Asbestos
by turtaniumX
Summary: Yoshiki Kishinuma is a delinquent, and he had no intentions of changing his ways. Until he met Ayumi Shinozaki, who gave a big influence on his future. Through each other, they start uncovering a dark past and try to prevent the burn of what was once an nonburnable future. AU - Sachiko Charm won't screw them over.
1. Chapter 1

This is the first fanfiction/story whatever that I've published to this site. It's the first actual "story" that I've written. I don't know how to explain it.

I wouldn't say you would really need to know the characters that much, as this story builds on that aspect. That being said, you need an appreciation to enjoy this fully. Chapters are mostly at least 3000 words or more.

* * *

It was a cold time for him, when all hope has been lost. Where can he possibly turn to? You would expect him to know where he was going, but you couldn't possibly have known. And yet, when he felt betrayed and cold inside, he still had no sympathy left for anyone.

He was an ordinary man living alone in the suburbs of an ill-treated metropolis. It was only just then did he realize his mistake for his actions. _For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction._ That was Isaac Newton's third law.

"_You can't hide from yourself forever,"_ his self-conscious told him. _"It'll haunt you until the day you die."_

That wasn't the exact words of hope that he was looking for. He forced himself off the cold floor and began to walk towards the door of his room. As he stepped out into the hallway of his apartment, he had no memory of what he was doing. Yoshiki had no ability to recall the last thing he was doing last night.

When he reached the kitchen, there was a little slimmer of light coming from the direction of the window. He hastily went over to his phone lying there on the counter. His hands were trembling nervously when he went over to pick it up. He switched it on, the time reading 6 AM along with a new text message.

"_**Hey, I know what you're thinking. I know how you feel, young one. I know you, but you don't know me. You don't know yourself."**_

He didn't have any clue what the cryptic message meant. He put the phone down and wandered around to inspect his living quarters some more. Everything else seems to be normal; nothing out of the ordinary. He sighed as he went back to his bedroom, eager to continue his dozing sleep from where he left off. Yoshiki was never a believer in lucid dreaming, but he could probably induce it if he really tried. He's already done part of the technique yet, all he needs to do now is doze off while concentrating on dreaming.

Another hour went by as he lay there, motionless in his bed. He woke up again with a loud thud. He'd just rolled off his bed and was trying to put the pieces together.

The clock read 5 AM. _"Wasn't this 6 AM, or is this clock backwards?"_ he thought. As Yoshiki figures out the truth, he found out that the last time he was awake was in fact in dreaming. He didn't forget this particular dream. He didn't forget this dream. _"Why?"_ Yoshiki thought once more. _"Why would I be able to recall this specific dream? I don't have..."_

His willpower was cut off from a sudden lack of energy. He hadn't had the faintest idea and just before he was able to realize what was happening, his surroundings abruptly dropped in darkness.

It was a Wednesday morning when he came to.

_Yoshiki Kishinuma_ didn't roll out of bed this time, he simply fainted on the ground from when he was last awake. He started questioning reality, but those thoughts soon passed over.

**"It's 7:47. Haha, I bet I'll be pretty late, he." **Yoshiki chuckled again and again on his way to the bathroom.

He was able to finish his preparations for school and started prepare his breakfast. Everything had happened so fast that he wasn't able to process it all. He still felt drowsy from his absolute lack of sleep these past two days. Yoshiki then donned a white shirt and over a grey hoodie. He preferred to leave it unzipped. He proceeded to put on some black pants and shoulder his backpack.

When he was sure he was done, he opened the front door and stepped out into the thoughts went through him and just like that, he was on the stairwell. His home was only on the second floor so he didn't have that much of a descent. The stairs were thoroughly covered with patches of dust on the sides. The environment seems rather dull for such a spacious building, as there was a worn out sofa in a room of which was once the lobby. That was the only piece of furniture on the first floor.

Yoshiki stepped outside into the real world. He wasn't actually dreaming this time. His lack of sleep has done things to his mind. It was mostly lacking brain power, and his thoughts became number as he trudged away on the concrete sidewalk. He checked his phone for the time, which read _8:12 AM. _He wasn't going to be as late as he thought he was. He decided to pick up the pace when the rain started piss down.

The academy eventually came into view in the midst of the pouring rain. He was met with a sudden rush of fatigue as he slowed his pace. _"Man,"_ he thought, _"I haven't been keeping in shape."_ It would make sense, having been lazy the last few days. Yoshiki drew another conclusion that his lack of sleep could be to blame.

Yoshiki proceeded to open the door leading into the high school and he felt a rush of indoor air over his face as he did so. He proceeded to put away his shoes and swap them for indoor shoes and found a bulletin board with a list of all the students in which homeroom along with various posters about school clubs scattered around with the occasional anime drawing. Surprisingly, the board wasn't crowded with people at all.

Finding his name on the 1-5 homeroom class list, he proceeded to skim the names to find no one that seemed familiar. He scratched his head and walked around the new high school. The delinquent didn't know how he got into high school; he was barely able to pass the entrance exam required for all first year students.

_Ayumi Shinozaki_ was sitting around on one of the various benches in the school. He noticed a blond boy walk by as she was browsing her phone waiting for class. The time on her display read _8:23 AM_. Was that bleached?

Shrugging off the thought, she continued to read about ghost stories on the web. She was especially interested as her family had a history of occult topics, not to mention her hobby of reading ghost stories. Her family was always considered weird by many, but she shrugged those remarks off ever since elementary. She was just about to finish reading when the bell rang, signalling homeroom period. Finishing up and closing her phone, she made her way to her homeroom, 1-3.

Yoshiki was just entering his homeroom when he was hit in the head by a wooden stick affixed across the doorway. He ducked under it as his head was bruising, silently cursing it in the process; the classmates behind him were silently giggling while trying to not get hit in the process. Eventually, Yoshiki found a seat near the back of the room. The date on the board read _April 2nd, 2007._

The classroom was littered with many postings about the samurai. He figured he was either interested in the samurai or a history teacher, the latter being his most favorable choice to go with. A kabuto hung from the wall the front of the room along with various pieces of bamboo armor and a katana. He debated if the katana was real or not.

The blond was almost finished observing his surroundings when the bell rang a second time, signalling that homeroom had started. The teacher, seemingly in his mid-30s was a tall one who was clean-shaven. He was also well toned, which gave the impression that he was also a PE teacher.

"**Alright class, listen up. My name is Mr. Hosokawa," **the teacher started, **"I understand that this is your first year in Kisaragi High. I am your homeroom teacher for the year, 1-5. I'm also a history teacher and the PE teacher for second year students."**

The class was seemingly paying attention due to his authoritarian-like voice. The impression of his voice told the class that no one should be messing around with somebody like this. Yoshiki, however, had thoughts in his head that were against his message.

"**Now, I expect all of you to attend class on time, be dressed properly in your uniforms****—which I will hand out shortly—and also follow my rules and the school policy every day. As long as you go by my words, we should all get along." **the teacher finished.

Yoshiki was still in his train of thought, only half of the attention focused on his words; the other part of his attention span was focused on his future in school. He wasn't interested in school at all. The blond's eyelids began to close as he started to drift off into sleep.

* * *

"**I am what I am, a believer at that. Believer of none but of lack. Lack of the knowledge that is precious here. Can anyone tell me who I am referring to?" **

Ayumi was in her homeroom when the teacher walked in and asked that riddle. She was still trying to comprehend the teacher's riddles. She was never a big fan of solving riddles. There was a sense of frustration around the classroom as everyone else tried to solve it.

"**A dropout?" **one student asked.

"**Correct," **the teacher replied with a slight grin forming on his face. **"I expect all of you to not become what is a 'dropout' or a 'delinquent'. That is one of my expectations." **

The class exhaled out as a sign of relief. The old man was going to be a pain to talk to, she thought. She hated teachers in general, and this one was on her nerves.

"**Hehe, I haven't introduced myself have I? My name is Mr. Yamada. I am your homeroom teacher, also teaching ethics here at Kisaragi." **The teacher began to hand out the school uniforms and IDs. **"Now, as you may have noticed, the school uniforms at senior high are different from junior high." **

Ayumi picked up her uniform and name tag and observed them for a while. It was a tan-colored sailor outfit with a blue-collar and a yellow bow attached to a blue brooch to the top. It was also along with a blue skirt. She stowed her ID along with the uniform in her backpack for now.

Ayumi looked around her class. She was sitting in one of the front row seats with Naomi and Seiko not too far behind. _"They were bonding well," _she thought to herself. Both of the girls were friends since junior high and Ayumi were classmates with them before.

"**I have some things to announce, like the school opening ceremony and the entrance ceremony for you first years which will happen in around,"**—the teacher paused to look at his watch—**"five minutes from now. The entrance ceremony will happen after lunch." **Mr. Yamada began handing out school schedules as well as he continued. **"You're all going to be here for three years. Get comfortable." **He finished off with a smile as the bell rang.

* * *

"**Kishinuma!"** Yoshiki awoke with a start when the teacher yelled in his ears.

"**Y-yes, sir?" **he stumbled at the sudden scolding from his homeroom teacher.

"**So, you're the slacker I see. Is that correct?"**

Yoshiki was thinking of an answer to give to his menacing teacher. **"Uh... not exactly, sir."**

The teacher grinned. **"Ah, I see you walked right into the stick in the doorway. Haha, you remind me of one of my ancestor's pupils when he was a sensei himself," **the teacher said, jokingly. **"Both of you had blonde hair but he was from England apparently…" **Hosokawa was displaying an effort to remember the stories his parents had told him before. **"Bah, enough about that. You're off the hook for now since this is the first day, heh."**

Yoshiki sighed as his heart thumped. He was legitimately scared.

**"Thank you, sensei."**

As the teacher went back to handing out uniforms and IDs, Yoshiki noticed his uniform and schedule on his desk. It was the Kisaragi dark grey gakuran uniform. He decided not to take off his grey hoodie, even though some of his classmates were already wearing it.

As the bell rang, everyone stood up to follow the teacher. Yoshiki, not knowing what to do since he was asleep, followed his classmates out the door. Mr. Hosokawa eventually led the class to the auditorium where the entire school gathered for the school opening ceremony. "_I guess this was what I was not listening to when I was asleep,_" he thought.

As they all walked into the auditorium, Yoshiki noticed a podium on the stage area along with Japanese flags and a banner that said 'Kisaragi High School Entrance Ceremony.' All the homerooms sat together as they are grouped by year.

The ceremony went by in a blur, with many speeches from various faculty members and the vice-principal along with the principal. Lunch eventually came and the hallways became parades of people from the dispersing out of the auditorium.

The cafeteria soon became the most populated place in the school, which was expected during lunch hour. Students from all the years soon stood in the line-up to buy cafeteria food, then either find a seating area in the cafeteria or eat in their homerooms.

Among the people in the line was Yoshiki, waiting to buy lunch. The line eventually shortened and it was his turn. He picked up the lunch trays and proceeded to add a bowl of rice on his tray along with some utensils and nothing else.

Yoshiki began to wander the halls of the high school when he found a sign called 'roof access'. He proceeded to follow the direction of the sign into a stairway leading up into a door that he assumed lead to the roof. He slowly moved the door ajar when suddenly he was caught with a fresh breeze on his face. It's been a while since he has met the sensation of the outdoor air.

Stepping out on to the roof, he noticed that he had a pretty clear view of the city and the outdoor surroundings. He slowly crept forth to the handrails that prevented people from simply walking off. Yoshiki decided this place would be a good place to eat his lunch. After all, he hated eating inside the school with other people; he simply preferred to be alone.

Ayumi was on her way to the auditorium, where the entrance ceremony was taking place. She was nervous since the entrance ceremony was also when all the class representatives had their speeches. She was told that people who wanted to be class representatives had to prepare a speech during the summer and send a copy of it to the council. The auditorium was looking different from the first time they went in for the school opening ceremony.

There were some women in the doorway leading to the auditorium dressed in kimonos standing along with suit dressed men, plus some other students. She assumed that they were their mothers, knowing that they are proud of them for attending high school since high school wasn't mandatory.

Everyone was given time during lunch to dress up in their school uniforms, and she looked down at hers. It fit her nicely, and she liked that. She never liked uniforms that exposed too much. She found her homeroom and she paraded in along with the rest of her class into the auditorium.

The vice-principal began the ceremony with introducing the principal. The principal then delivered a speech that addressed the first years in the school, personally wishing those best of luck for the next three years.

Next are the new student introductions where they introduced all the first year students. They went over the homerooms in numerical order, with the entire homeroom going up on stage and having each person's name called out to bow to the principal, with the principal returning the bow.

When it was 1-3's turn, Ayumi was told to stay behind for her speech. She was given her cue card to read from as she remained in the curtains. Shortly after 1-3 was done and 1-4's, it was 1-5's turn.

"**Yoshiki Kishinuma,"** the principal called out.

There was no answer from the crowd of his homeroom. The principal asked again.

**"Yoshiki Kishinuma?" **

Silence. He wasn't present at the ceremony. Ayumi noticed the homeroom teacher looking around for him but seemingly to no avail.

**"It appears that he is absent for this ceremony."**

It soon returned to normal but the school was still dwelling on that thought. It was shameful to miss such an important and formal ceremony. Whoever this person is will be starting off high school with a reputation, she thought.

The rest of the ceremony eventually went on, finishing the introductions and moving onto the speeches. It began with the Board of Education's speech, followed by the student council. The last part of ceremony was the speeches from all the class reps. When it was Ayumi's turn, she was nervous but she calmed herself down in the moments before her turn. She stated in her speech that she cared about the well-being of others, thinking of Yoshiki in that moment. What was Kishinuma's deal?

Her speech was soon over and she went to sit back down with her homeroom. The last part of the ceremony was the teacher introductions. She noticed 1-5's homeroom teacher looked pretty menacing. If Kishinuma had that person for his homeroom teacher then he's in for a rough ride, she lingered. The ceremony closed with another speech from the principal and the students were taken back to their homerooms.

* * *

The bell rang and Yoshiki woke up and glanced at his phone. It was 4:00 PM, the time when the school ended. He glanced around, trying to remember where he was. There was a lunch tray with a rice bowl from the cafeteria next to him. He soon realized he fell asleep on the roof.

Getting up, he stretched and cracked a few bones and went off the roof back down the same stairwell he used. Walking out of the school, he went straight to the music store he worked in. A part-time job was what he needed to do if he wanted to afford rent and pay his phone bills.

The blond stepped into the guitar shop, seemingly dressed in his casual clothes. He didn't change into his uniform at school since he had no idea of the entrance ceremony.

"**Why hello, Kishinuma." **

A voice came and he looked over to his manager who was bowing. Yoshiki briefly returned the bow.

**"Ready to start your shift?"**

Yoshiki nodded as he took his place at the cashier's stand. Yoshiki kept looking over at the wide variety of guitars laid about the place. There were acoustics, electrics including famous brands such as Gibson and Fender. Also among the choices were bass guitars and several of other guitar accessories like bags and straps. "Playing the guitar is the only thing I'm good at," he thought, "it's the only thing I don't get yelled at for doing."

The clock struck 7:00 PM as Ayumi was walking down the steps of the high school. Her student council meeting was over and it was droned on a bit late but she didn't mind. Walking down the streets of her neighborhood in the silent night, she noticed a lone person walking on the sidewalk. It was a blonde haired boy with grey eyes, couldn't be older than 17. "_Wait,_" she thought. "_Isn't this the same person I saw at school_?" They both walked by each other, looking at each other in the process.

"_She's wearing the school uniform,_" Yoshiki thought as he was walking home from work. Not like he cared anyway. He never cared.

* * *

I decided to make it 2007 because one of the in-game photos show 2008 on the day that they were in Heavenly Host.

First chapter revamped a little bit.


	2. Chapter 2

Yoshiki detected a hint of morning breath as he woke up. He flipped open his phone to check the time. _Thursday, April 4th, 2007 - 7:10 AM. _Thursday was the latest day he went to school. He has skipped ever since, but today a thought crossed his mind. A thought to go to school. _I mean, there has to be a point if I passed that entrance exam, right?_

He took advantage of the time he woke up at to get ready to head off to school. The routine was the same aside from the clothing. He had donned the Kisaragi dark grey gakuran, unbuttoned. Over top of it was the white shirt that was also part of the dress code. The delinquent envied foreign country school systems, since some of them don't have a specific school uniform. He always hated following orders.

Making his way to the school along the familiar path he had walked on a few days ago as the route to Kisaragi, he suddenly remembered that the first period was PE. Since he became out of shape over the summer, he wouldn't do too well in that particular subject. Furthermore, he had no idea of the PE unit that his class was doing anyway but that was the nature of his life; having no clue about what's going on has always been a reason in his life.

Entering the school and making his way to his homeroom after changing shoes, the bell rang and he was seated in the familiar spot that he was once seated on the first day of high school. It practically became his bed in the two days that he had come to school. Some eyes were laid on him as he began to close his eyes to start his sleeping routine.

But it wasn't long until he heard the well-known voice of his teacher. "**What's the matter, Kishinuma? You've been absent for three days in a row.**"

Yoshiki merely glanced up at his teacher and shrugged before returning to snooze off. Hosokawa wasn't surprised at all, really; he had dealt with these types of students before. Sighing, he turned to the attendance sheet to mark him as present for today with a checkbox, catching sight over at the other three empty boxes from the past days of school.

As the bell rang, Yoshiki woke up for the second time and followed his classmates to the gym. In the change room, he switched his uniform into the school's gym strip—it wasn't anything special, just a white Kisaragi t-shirt with basketball shorts. There were also tracksuits as well if it got cold.

Looking around and noticing nobody was nearby, he pulled out a pack of cigarettes and his lighter. Taking out a single-stick, he stowed the rest of the pack in his bag and put the cigarette in his mouth. After lighting it and inhaling, he felt the familiar head rush enter and engulf him with the sense of calm as he exhaled.

"**Are you smoking in there?**" a voice inquired, sounding irritated from the smell.

Quickly turning, he recognized his PE teacher, Mr. Tsubota, standing in the change room with him.

"**Well... uh,**" he stammered.

"**You're that Kishinuma guy, right? The guy who skipped the ceremony?**" he said, a slight grin forming on his face.

Yoshiki was a bit confused at first at his words. There was only one ceremony, right? "**I'm sorry, sir, but I don't know what ceremony you're talking about.**"

The grin quickly faded and turned into a frown. "**Are you serious?**" Tsubota snapped. "**Are you saying that you didn't know? You know the entrance ceremony.**"

So that's that Yoshiki missed on Thursday. That's why everyone else was dressed in their uniforms and heading to the gym. He thought there was only one ceremony to go to. "**I'm sorry, sir. I didn't know,"** he replied, a hint of surprise in his voice.

"**Well, well,**" the teacher said, chuckling, "**I think the both of us are going to get along **_**just **_**fine. Now, if you smoke again, you'll be facing expulsion. Is that clear?**"

"**Yes, sir,**" Yoshiki sighed, dumping away the cigarette in his hand.

"**Now, go join the rest of your class,**"—he motioned towards the exit—"**they're waiting**."

The day went on normally for him after that little debacle. He hated his PE teacher; in fact, Yoshiki would even go far as to consider Tsubota as the worst teacher he had so far. Math and English came by in his second and third periods and it was soon turned into lunch hour.

* * *

Ayumi was sitting on one of the cafeteria benches with her cafeteria food, which was a chicken and egg dish. It was a seemingly plain cafeteria entrée. Naomi and Seiko were not far from her, talking about the start of high school. It's only been three days since they started high school. Suddenly, Satoshi came up and joined them after waiting in line to buy his lunch.

"**Did you hear about that Kishinuma guy?**" Satoshi began. Ayumi's eyes perked up at the mention of his name.

Naomi glanced over to him. "**Yeah, he was the one that skipped the ceremony right?**"

Satoshi merely nodded. Ayumi who had listened to their conversations suddenly started talking.

"**You know, I don't really understand why some people are like that.**"

Seiko giggled. "**Hehe, and some people don't understand why I'm like this—**"

"**Ah, Seiko, what are you—"** Seiko leaned over to Naomi and proceeded to grab her chest and hugged her tightly. Naomi quickly pushed her off, her cheeks red from the sudden outburst. The fact that her friends and some other people are looking didn't help the situation.

Seiko leaned in close to Naomi's ear. "**Look at Mochida. Won't you think he's a bit… jealous?**" she whispered, grinning.

Ayumi shook her head while Satoshi scratched his head at the scene that was presented. Naomi's blush was getting redder and redder.

"**N-no,**" Naomi stammered. Seiko winked at Naomi at her reply and continued on with her lunch casually.

Ayumi was eager to know who this Kishinuma person was. "**He's a blonde, right?**"

"**Yep. Bleached I bet,**" Satoshi said.

Ayumi started to think back and recognized him. He was that blonde guy that she had walked by so many times before. Sighing, she turned back to her lunch when suddenly she noticed from the big glass window in the cafeteria something falling from the roof. Dismissing it as a leaf, she started to eat her sandwich.

Yoshiki blinked and let out a dry cough as he exhaled the fumes from the cigarette. He threw away the cigarette down from the roof of the building. He got up from leaning on the handrail and looked around. It was a nice view of the city from the roof. This is where he'd always been every lunch hour at Kisaragi. His blonde hair and his loose school uniform were whipped around in the sudden breeze of the spring weather. _I feel like I should do something instead of slacking off all the time…_

The lunch period ended and Yoshiki decided to go to his 4th and 5th period classes. After all, he hadn't seen a lot of the class work since he skipped two class days already. The first period in his afternoon was science, something he could never care about. The last one, however, was a socials or a history class; Yoshiki couldn't really decide which subject it was. It was taught by his homeroom teacher—Oda Hosokawa— who had been hot on his case ever since he arrived to high school.

The lesson began with a textbook reading about the modern society of Japan, and then some assigned in-class questions. Yoshiki, like how he did in science, eventually fell asleep. Hosokawa noticed him sleeping in the back and he decided to settle the problem. He started to walk up the aisle of desks over to his seat.

"**Kishinuma,**" he began. Yoshiki jolted up at his sudden voice and opened his eyes.

"**Yes, sir..?**"

"**Stay with me after school. You and I need to have a little chat.**" The teacher then returned to his front desk.

Yoshiki sighed in defeat and went back to sleep, still neglecting the work assigned on the board. It's only his second day here and he's already on the radar of two teachers. He couldn't do anything right. School was so boring to him and he didn't know what to do. None of the clubs really seem appealing to him either.

As school ended at 3:50 PM after cleaning and another homeroom block, Yoshiki had done what his teacher told him and stayed after school. His shift in the music store started later on Wednesdays so he was able to stay behind for some time.

When Hosokawa was sure the room was empty, he closed the door and sat beside Yoshiki. "**So,**"—he had an unusually calm demeanour—"**is there something going on at home? What's the problem here?**" he asked.

Yoshiki ran a hand through his hair. "**Well… my parents… they kicked me out over the summer, so I have to live on my own.**" he said, nervously. He had never talked about this subject to anyone else other than his family. He decided it was best to tell the truth.

Hosokawa nodded at his response, and Yoshiki kept talking. "**I'm just… not interested in school. There's nothing for me to do.**" he stated.

"**I see. Well, I think that's good enough for me. You can go now,**" Hosokawa said with a dismissive wave.

Yoshiki was relieved at the fact that he didn't yell at him. He was just starting to get up and head for the door when his teacher suddenly spoke again.

"**I'll be looking forward to see your parents at the conferences in June,**" he said, "**it's our first conference to be held at this school.**" There was a slight hint of a grin on his face.

Yoshiki nodded. "_**Yeah**_**, I bet,**" he replied, sarcastically. He proceeded to close the door as he stepped out into the empty hallway.

He stepped out into the outdoor land of the academy grounds and looked around. He took out his pack of cigarettes and took one out. Proceeding to shield the lighter from the wind with his hand, he lit the cigarette and stood there on the stairs of the entrance way, deep in thought.

_Conferences,_ he thought. _I guess we'll see what my parents think very soon, hehe._ He took a long drag at his next round and exhaled deeply into the cool air. It was still early April when spring is still fairly cold. _Summer's coming up soon, so what will I do over the summer?_

* * *

_6:00 PM._ Ayumi put away her cellphone and walked out of the art room. She'd just finished drawing alongside her art club friends and was headed for home when suddenly she remembered to ask Yoshiki's homeroom teacher. She crept along into the hallway that listed all the first year homerooms. "_1-3... 1-4… Ah, here it is. 1-5._"

Hosokawa was quietly working on the computer when he noticed a knocking coming from the door. "**Come in,**" he called out. The door slid open to show a blue-haired girl with two pigtails, suited in the school's uniform for girls. "**Ah, you must be the 1-3 class representative,**" he said, recognizing her from the speech she made. "**What can I do for you?**"

Ayumi shifted nervously. "**Well, I've come to ask about Kishinuma.**"

The teacher chuckled. "**Kishinuma, the one who's always sleeping,**" he began. "**He's not a normal high schooler, I'll tell you that.**"

"**What do you mean, exactly?**" She crossed her arms.

Hosokawa thought back to the words Yoshiki said to him earlier. "**He has family troubles. He lives on his own.**"

That explained a lot of things for Ayumi. She would've never had the courage to ask him directly about his life. She muttered a quick thank you and turned around and stepped out, closing the door behind her.

Yoshiki had just finished work and stopped by a McDonald's on the way home for his dinner. He did enjoy the taste of burgers and fries. Climbing up the stairs to his apartment on the second floor, he walked over to his door and unlocked it. When he was inside, he shut the door and locked it. Changing out of his uniform and back into casual clothing, he went over to the couch and sat there. He grabbed the remote with his left and switched on the TV while his right had a cheeseburger in his hand.

There wasn't really anything interesting on, so he shut the TV off after finishing his meal to clean up. Walking into his room, he picked up his guitar and plucked a few notes. The ambience of his apartment made him feel lonely and he started to play _Prelude in C Minor by Barrios_. He always hated barre chords, they always made his wrist feel weak after doing them. _You know, if school had a guitar club, I would at least find a purpose there._

He drifted his eyes off towards the window. It had turned dark over the course of five hours and the streets lay black in the night, lit up by the street lamps. _Hehe, I don't know myself, is that right?_ Sure, Yoshiki would consider himself as a delinquent at school. He could never be successful, could he? People say that if you believe in yourself, they will be successful. People say you don't need to be "popular" to get a good college degree.

A college degree. Is that what he wanted to aim for? He always hated to read music anyway. That's the thing. Yoshiki doesn't know what to do in his first year. He doesn't. There wasn't anything for him to show interest in. Maybe there was something, a specific way to life the high school life to get through…

* * *

"**Hey, Sis, you there?**" Ayumi was at her sister's room, waiting at the door for a response.

"**Hmm? Yeah, I'm here. Come on in.**"

Ayumi proceeded to open the door and walked in her room, slouching over on her way in. She noticed her sister sitting at her table, three candles lit up around the room. The eerie sound of crickets chirped on through the night.

"**I see you slouching those tiny shoulders of yours. What's the matter?**"

Ayumi looked up at Hinoe to reveal to her that she had tears in her eyes.

"**Your cute little face is all stained with tears!**" She motioned for Ayumi to come over. "**Come on over. Let's hear it.**"

Ayumi ran over to her sister sitting in her chair and groaned. She then suddenly embraced her sister.

"**So, did you just want some quiet affection, or do you want to talk about it?**" Hinoe asked, taken aback by her sister's sudden emotions.

"**...I want to ask you something,**" Ayumi sniffled.

"**Oh? Alright then. Ask away.**"

"**It's about your work,**" she started, briefly pausing. "**How old were you when you decided this is what you wanted to do?**"

Hinoe smiled. "**Hmm… Good question. I guess…** **I was around your age, Ayumi.**"

"**Were you… sure that it's what you wanted to do?**"

"**I was. Because I**—" she hesitated for a moment, "**I trusted that a higher power was guiding me.**" She glanced around at some of the candles. "**There were certainly a lot of people opposed to the idea… heh, but I guess you knew that already, since you were there! Heehee…**"

Ayumi remembered the time when her sister had skeptical comments thrown about her job. It was a rather crazy one at that. "**You're really awesome, you know that, Sis?**" she remarked. "**I… don't have a lot of faith in my abilities.** **No matter what I do, I can never seem to bring myself to take that first step.**"—Ayumi was trying to hold back tears as she spoke—"**It just… scares me…**"

Hinoe started her usual philosophical talk, the type that she's known for. "**Self-confidence… Such a complex, vital thing, yet so deceptively simple-sounding. I know you have it in you, Ayumi, to do great things. I've seen your true potential blossoming for a long time now.**" She closed her eyes as she recalled her memories of her sister. **"It's a skill you've honed from trial after trial, hardship after hardship. All of which you've overcome through sheer force of will.** **But, what good are your accomplishments if you don't believe in yourself?**"

Hinoe noticed the change of feeling in her sister as they continued to embrace in each other's arms. "**You are Ayumi, the budding illustrator**—**always drawing in hopes that one day, your dream can become true. Ayumi, the dedicated…"**—she suddenly remembered what their parents had told Ayumi—"**Ayumi, the rebel… never letting Mom and Dad convince you to 'choose a more stable occupation,' no matter how many times they try." **She paused to notice Ayumi's change in expression. "**Ayumi, the dreamer… continuing to draw beautiful works of art, with such excitement and fire in those cute little eyes of yours. You know what I think? I think there's still another Ayumi hiding in there somewhere. An Ayumi with something bothering her.**"

"**Mmm,**" Ayumi mumbled, thinking of the right things to say.

Hinoe decided it's now time to let her sister do the talking. "**You can come on out now, troubled one. Let's hear what's on your mind.**"

Ayumi began. "**There are…**"—she choked on her tears—"**There are so many people who are so much better than I am! If you look on the net, they're everywhere… Thousands, maybe even tens of thousands of really good illustrators. It's all really disheartening, you know?**" She remembered the amount of detail in the illustration of one of her club mate's. "**It's like, no matter how much skill and luck I've got, I just keep thinking… they're my competition…"**

Ayumi slowly worked her way out from her sister's embrace and went over to lie on her bed and closed her eyes, fatigued from admitting her feelings. They both remained in silence until her sister started talking.

"**I have a friend who draws pictures for a living, actually,**" she began, "**and she wouldn't be where she is today if she hadn't taken some initiative. The only way to get ahead in life and achieve your dreams… is to take action.**" Ayumi quietly sniffled on the bed. Her sister then picked up a book from her table and walked over to Ayumi. "**Have you heard of this girl before?**" She motioned to the book she was holding. "**She's been making waves in the field of paranormal research, and is a pretty well-respected author to boot,**" she explained, handing the book over to Ayumi.

Ayumi was having trouble with the name. "**Hmm… how do you read the characters in her name? Saeno...ki?**"

"**Saenoki Naho,**" Hinoe corrected her sister. "**She's been putting out book after book just like this for some time now, making a name for her in the process.**" She paused for a moment. "**Not only has she earned the respect of her peers, but literary circles are saying she's a strong contender for winning this term's Akutagawa award.**"

Ayumi was amazed at hearing this. She was very impressed by the amount of effort this one person can make and get nominated for such an important award.

"**The most interesting part, though,**" she added, "**is that she's about the same age as you, Ayumi.**"

"**Mm? Mmm…**" Ayumi was stunned to hear that fact. Maybe she could achieve what she thought before was impossible. She started to get up from the bed.

Hinoe's soothing voice continued. "**What's more is, she didn't learn her writing or problem-solving skills from any teacher. No, apparently she just kept on writing stories and essays until she was satisfied. Because for her, writing is pure, fun and simple.**

Ayumi opened her eyes. "**Fun, huh…**"

"**You need to have faith,**" she reminded, "**Never forget why you got into illustration in the first place… and if at first you don't succeed, **_**try**_**, try again!**" Hinoe started to smile once more. "**I struggle with this sort of thing all time time, but I just keep reminding myself that this is what I was meant to do. It's what I love, hehe…**"

Ayumi had it decided and set in her mind. She stood up from the bed. "**Okay, Sis,**" she started.

"**Hmm?**"

"**You win. I'm going to keep at it… until I become a full-on professional!**" Ayumi was determined to do so. After all, that Naho girl is her age and the amount of success she had now… she was determined to take that starting action.

Hinoe smiled. "**That's the spirit**," she said cheerfully.

"**And you know what else?**" Ayumi stated. "**This contemporary of mine… Naho, was it? Mark my words…"** She hesitated; her blue eyes showed that she was fantasizing. "**One day, I'm going to be the girl they contract to design the cover of one of her books**."

"**Are you now?** **Well, that sounds fantastic,**" Hinoe said proudly. "**I'll be awaiting that day with bated breath.** **I'll show your book to all my clients and say, 'Look at this! My little sister drew it! Isn't it wonderful?**' "

Ayumi was blushing at that thought. "**So you'll… support me?**"

"**Of course**," she replied, noticing her sister's drastic change in tone. She had cried a few minutes ago, and now…

Ayumi suddenly ran up to her sister and began hugging her again. "**I love you so much, Sis!**" she cried, tears of joy in her eyes. They both giggled. She was determined to make it, to put that foot down on the first step. She had a dream now, a dream that her parents couldn't stop no matter how hard they tried. That Ayumi with something bothering her was now gone.

"**I'll always be rooting for you, Ayumi…**"


	3. Chapter 3

Yoshiki opened his eyes to the sound of the doorbell. He glanced out the window as he woke up. It was summer, so the sun was out and shining. The trees that stood out in the street shadows a portion of the ground beneath and he looked away when a car drove by, the reflection from the sun bouncing back in his eyes.

He looked around quickly to find his phone and checked the time. _Friday, August 3rd, 12:21 AM_. At this time, school would be having it's lunch hour but Yoshiki has seemingly slept in for the majority of the school day. Great, he thought. The person at the door was some teacher who was looking for him.

Still dressed in his night clothes, he started to force himself off of his bed and make his way to the doorway. From there, he turned over in the direction of the front door and kept walking. When he reached the door, he took a breath before opening it, expecting a staff member to be standing there.

"**Hey, Yoshiki.**"

What he didn't expect was to see her sister, dressed in the junior Kisaragi uniform consisting of a blue smock and a pink bow tie attached to a white collar. She had a backpack slung over her shoulder. Her black hair was tied in a usual ponytail that Yoshiki recognized many times before.

"**Miki, what are you doing here?**" Yoshiki asked, slightly surprised.

"**Well, they let me go out for lunch today. Figured I could check up on you.**" She paused to check the walkway as if to check if anyone were to eavesdrop. "**Can I come in?**"

Yoshiki nodded and closed the door behind her and she walked in.

"**Parents probably won't let us see each other, and the conferences didn't really help.** **They got to hear every bad aspect what you seem to be.**"

Yoshiki let out a huge sigh. "**Yeah, I have a rough time in high school,**" he said bitterly. He hasn't brushed his teeth yet so his breath still felt bad in his mouth.

Miki took a look around his living conditions. "**Not bad of a place for a part time job,**" she commented. It was decent enough for one person to live in. The air was humid and the air conditioner broke down, and Yoshiki left it unfixed for a while.

"**I need to brush my teeth since I just woke up.**"

Miki nodded and Yoshiki walked into the bathroom. She sat down on the couch and continued to observe her surroundings. Some of the wallpaper was starting to rip off. The sun was pouring into the interior from the lone window in the kitchen.

She heard the door open and noticed Yoshiki was finished.

"**You know, I miss having you around.**" Her voice was sounding weary.

"**What? Why?**" Yoshiki asked, not expecting it.

"**You were always the only one… who was nice to me,**" Miki admitted. "**And now, I'm the only child in the family, so all of their attention and pressure is on me.**"

Yoshiki shrugged. "**I had to do what I had to do.**"

Miki nodded and opened her backpack and placed a take-out box on the table. "**I saved some sushi for you, Yoshiki.**" She smiled before standing up and heading for the door. "**Please, stay in school,**" she called out as she opened the door.

"**I'll think about it**," he replied.

Yoshiki watched as she shut the door walked out into the hallway. He sat there, contemplating the thought of going back to school. It should be easy, he thought. Just walk back in there and go to class. What could possibly go wrong?

Walking over to the table, he picked up a pair of chopsticks and began to eat the food quietly. He knew what he had to do.

* * *

"**You're crazy. Real crazy.**"

Ayumi was sitting on the carpet with one of her candles, setting up a ritual. Naomi and Satoshi were not far off, observing. The only source of light in the room was emitted from the candle Ayumi held in her hand.

Ayumi looked up to meet Satoshi in the eye.

"**I **_**am**_** crazy**,"

Naomi giggled as Ayumi continued with her ritual. Satoshi glanced at her phone for the time. _12:40 AM._Lunch is over in 20 minutes, he thought.

Suddenly, some muffled voices could be heard outside of the room, not too far off. They were hostile voices, directed at each other. Satoshi slowly made his way outside to investigate, creeping up slowly to the door. He hesitated before opening the door and peeked outside.

"**What are you gonna do tough guy? Fight me?**"

Satoshi noticed Yoshiki standing in the middle of the cafeteria, staring back at the student who mocked him. There was a certain feeling of tension in the air as spectators gathered around, ready to watch the fight that will most likely ensue. He noticed on his face that he had touched a nerve.

Yoshiki started to approach his opposer and the student who was once scoffing at him soon found his face on the floor as he was swiftly kicked in the face in retaliation.

"**What else am I going to do?**" Yoshiki hissed in clenched teeth. "**This place is boring and crappy as hell.**"

The student started to stand up, although slightly shaking. He hadn't expected this delinquent to actually _fight_ him. Blood ran down his nose as he struggled to meet Yoshiki's height. He didn't hesitate to attack him. Yoshiki sensed the attack coming and stepped aside. He swung back and hit him briefly in the gut. The sound of the gathering crowd increased with each swing.

Ayumi stood up from her uncompleted ritual, eager to see what all the commotion was about. Satoshi looked back at them as they approached the door to see for themselves.

She peeked out slowly, Naomi not far behind her. They couldn't get a good look at who was fighting with the crowd in the way. She glanced back at her candles and ran back to put them out before heading over to the cafeteria.

Satoshi asked in a rushed voice, slightly shocked. "**What are you doing?**"

"**I'm going to see what's going on,**" Ayumi replied, blowing out the last of her candles.

"**Uh, we'll come with you** **I guess,**" Satoshi stammered.

Naomi nodded slowly. "**I guess… but I don't really like seeing fights.**"

They made their way out of the classroom and made their way down the hallway and into the cafeteria. Pushing through the crowd, they reached a point where they could see the middle.

"**Kishinuma…,**" Ayumi said unconsciously. He stood facing a student who was sitting down against the wall, blood smears all over his face. Sweat poured down from the blonde's head and he briefly wiped it off. He turned around the face the crowd and noticed the same blue headed girl gazing. He returned the stare but noticed someone else approaching him. A teacher.

He grinned as he was told to go down to the principal's office. He followed the order obediently and exited the scene, leaving the injured student behind. His eyes locked on to Ayumi's as he walked out casually as if nothing had happened.

Ayumi shivered as his grey eyes eyed her coldly. She didn't expect someone like him to do something like that. She noticed some students approaching the victim as the crowd began to disperse.

"**What was that all about?**" Naomi asked, still fazed by the outcome of the fight. Satoshi shrugged and they all turned their heads towards the class rep. She was still staring off into the distance, motionless and deep in thought.

Naomi poked her in the arm briefly. "**Hello?**"

Ayumi shook her head as she suddenly began to regain consciousness. "**Huh? Yeah, I'm still here.**" She blinked as she saw the student walking out of the cafeteria, supposedly towards the infirmary. There was a moment of silence before Satoshi perked up.

"**Lunch is almost over I'm guessing,"**—he glanced at his phone to check the time—"**yeah, it's around 12:53 right now.** **See you guys in class!**" Satoshi left and Naomi and Ayumi were left standing there, still bewildered.

"**A fight like that never happens around here…**"

"**I think that guy's name was Kishinuma.**"

"**Best not to get on his bad side then. You saw what he did to that kid over there?**"

Ayumi and Naomi walked out of the cafeteria together, deciding it would be better to not eavesdrop on local conversations.

"**What was that all about?**"

They both were startled by the sudden question of the familiar voice of Seiko.

"**Oh, just some fight,**" Naomi replied.

Seiko's cheerful face turned a bit sullen. "**Oh, that's something different.** **Wish I was there to see it, though. What was it about?**"

Ayumi suddenly retorted. "**Can we not talk about it right now? I'm kind of, you know…**"

They stood outside their homeroom as their conversation came to an end. There was something unusual about that guy, something that made her feel bad inside.

* * *

Yoshiki was stepping out of the principal's office. He'd just been disciplined by the principal and suspended for a week. The suspension was actually productive for him as it gave him more reason to not go to school. He decided to pack up to go home in the middle of 4th period. Making his way to the entrance, he changed into his outdoor shoes and headed outside.

He continued walking down the street in the sunlight, cars whizzing by. It would probably occur to others that he might playing truant, but nevertheless nobody questioned him.

He eventually reached the apartment building and went into his suite. Sighing, he put his shoes away and bag on the couch and went to the kitchen. From there, he proceeded to pour himself a glass of water. The hell was that guy's problem anyway, he thought. I wasn't doing anything wrong, was I? Still, he had to respect the guy for having the balls to engage in a brawl with him.

Sighing again in frustration, he took a sip from the cup. Beat the shit out of that guy, that's for sure. Of course, this wasn't the first time he fought some body. There were street fights that weren't provoked by him also earlier in his life. He could also recall the time he almost punched out his father's teeth. He took another sip.

Walking over to the window, the realization hit him just like the sunlight. If he kept this up, he would be out of school in no time. These actions would probably cause some sort of reputation to build up and cause panic among the school population. People would consider him off as a delinquent and view him with prejudice. Since people are so afraid to confront him, he would be easily become ostracized. He did have his hair dyed, after all; this merely contributes to the first impression that most of his 'peers' had for him.

He took another sip and put the glass on the bedside table. After a quick stretch, he plopped himself on the bed, pondering more thoughts. The thought of being marginalized was certainly not a pretty thought, but that's the consequence. Marginalization is mostly influenced by the actions of the affected.

Of course, there are also people he noticed in life that complain about being excluded. People have become less resilient, and that kind of thing pissed him off. The person from earlier was at least gutsy enough, but he didn't have any honor. What good came out of fighting a random person rumored to be a delinquent?

Yoshiki dug his head into the pillow. He heard screaming his face off into a pillow works for anger management, so he tried it. He tried letting out his anger and hatred, channeling into a voice of one who get inflicted with a critical injury. The pillow suppressed the noise coming from his release of tension.

When he raised his head, he noticed the anger subsiding. It really worked, he thought. Smiling with self-satisfaction, he stood up and took the cup and chugged the rest of the contents down his mouth. He walked out into the kitchen to put it in the sink, and then returned to his room.

Silent, trivial thoughts were passing through him as the day went by. He didn't find much to do at home: the TV channels didn't do much for him, since he found them all boring; he lost his motivation to cook, even though it seemed simple enough like following guitar tabs; and finally, his guitar wasn't really functional as one of the strings broke. He'd have to get a new one the next time he went to his part-time job. He ended up sleeping in his bed in the end.

When he woke up from his nap, Yoshiki decided to go out for a while to get some fresh air. Looking down to see himself still dressed in the school uniform, he went into his room to change into some street clothes. He took out a plain black shirt and beige cargo pants. He checked the clock in his room, the needles indicating it was 6:25 PM. He grabbed his phone and put it in his pocket.

After stepping out into the evening summer air, he lit a cigarette and began dragging away. Suspended for a week, he mused. Shrugging the thought off, he decided that was best for him since there wasn't anything to do at school anyway. It was pointless.

Once he was finished with his cigarette, he threw it on the ground and extinguished the flame with his shoes. He then started his lonely walk down the street, to nowhere in particular.

* * *

The blue-haired class rep nodded. "**Yeah, our class is doing a western-style cafe for the culture festival.**"

The student council president, Hanzo Matsuki, nodded. The secretary was writing down notes for the festival activities and venues.

"**OK, Shinozaki-san. You can go now.**"

Ayumi gave a quick bow before leaving the student council meeting room. She made her way to the school foyer and began changing her shoes. After that, she walked outside with her bag full of school work and headed for home. She checked the clock that was affixed to the schoolhouse—6:30 PM.

When she arrived home, she went to her room to dump the bag. So much school work, she thought. I wonder if I'll be able to finish it all.

After a long period of time, she managed to finish roughly half of the workload that was assigned for the weekend. She sighed as she began to lie on the bed. The cultural festival's going to be a hard thing to set up, she pondered.

Then, another thought came into mind. Will Yoshiki be there?


	4. Chapter 4

The more he tried to stop, the more the effort eluded him. Yoshiki dreadfully stood in the locked bathroom stall, filling his lungs with smoke from his cigarette. He expelled it out through the venting of the room, although it was fairly weak. He checked the time on his phone, which read _Monday, October 29 - 2:00 PM._ The day after the culture festival, which he didn't go to.

As he whiffed out another puff of smoke, a familiar teacher's voice can be heard booming throughout the bathroom.

"**Kishinuma!**" The voice echoed. It was his PE teacher, Tsubota.

Ah crap, Yoshiki thought.

"**What's all that smoke I see?**" Tsubota asked in disgust. "**Get the hell out of that stall, right this instant!**"

Yoshiki sighed as he dumped the lit cigarette into the toilet and unlocked the stall. Tsubota motioned for him to follow him outside to the hallway. He folded his arms and spoke.

"**Hitting the tobacco again, were we?**"

"**Uh… well… no, sir.**"

Tsubota raised an eyebrow. "**Didn't I warn you what would happen if I caught you smoking again? Expulsion, that's what!**"

"**I'm sorry,**" Yoshiki apologized, albeit his tone was rather ungenuine.

"**You're a real problem child, you know that? Why do you even bother coming to school in the first place?**" He paused to let Yoshiki give an answer.

"**Heh…**"

Without a satisfactory reply, Tsubota continued to rant. "**Disowned by your parents… living on your own… got no friends… never go to class… Just because you hate school doesn't give you the right to throw fits and raise a ruckus all the time, mister!**" He stopped to cough for a bit. "**You're clearly not having fun here right? So why don't you just drop out? I really don't get it!**"

Yoshiki was slightly quivering from rage at this point.

"**It's not like you're trying to get into college at this point. With your home life as it is, that thought probably hasn't even crossed your mind!**" Tsubota remarked.

"**Uh… huh…,**" Yoshiki muttered absentmindedly.

Tsubota's mouth started to take shape of a grin. "**Wish I could ask your parents what they think of having a no-good kid in their family, but they never once show their faces around here. Not since the very first parent-teacher conferences we ever held. Wonder if they'd be embarrassed.**"

Yoshiki couldn't help but find some meaning in his words. "**My parents aren't exactly proud of me, shall we say.**"

"**Eh, that's not what I mean. I'm thinking of the big picture here; they're clearly just not good parents. If I had kids of my own, you'd better believe I wouldn't be half as lax with them as yours obviously are with you!**"

Yoshiki glanced at the clock in the hallway. 2:04 PM. It's been 4 minutes since he was caught.

"**The problem is, people are having kids when they're way too young. Before they become proper adults, they're popping up babies of their own! And bad parents raise bad kids. That's why there's so many brats like you in the world.**"

He's right about one thing, Yoshiki thought. There's no reason for me to stay in this school. It really is pointless. Noticing the teacher's evident grin, he thought that he should just beat the crap out of this jackass and then drop out.

"**People think as long as they pay school taxes or tuition, they're good mommies or daddies. Well, news flash: they're not! Hahaha!**" Tsubota laughed only briefly and stopped when he noticed Yoshiki's change in expression. "**Hmm? What's with that look?**"

Yoshiki stood there in contemplation. I've never hit a teacher before, he thought. Ah well, first time for everything.

"**Mr. Tsubota?**" A girl's voice came from behind. Yoshiki turned around to see the blue-haired girl, smiling.

"**Hehh? Well, if it isn't the class rep. What's up?**" The gym teacher's tone changed at the sight of Ayumi.

"**The vice principal is looking for you. You're needed back at the staff room.**"

"**Gotcha, thanks.**" He started to move and then stopped to speak again.

"**Hmm? Shinozaki, you've got great eyes, you know that? Always so clear and focused, haha. We instructors like your kind best of all. You ever have a problem, come talk to me about it, ok? Hahahaha…**"

She waited until he was out of sight and then her smile faded.

"**That guy's the worst**," she admitted.

"**...Thanks**," Yoshiki said.

Her expression changed into a resentful look and she looked at him in the eye. "**You're not really any better.**"

"**Huh**?" Yoshiki said in confusion.

"**You were thinking about hitting him just now, weren't you?**"

Yoshiki stood there in silence with nothing to say back.

Ayumi sighed. "**What a sad fate it would be to get kicked out of school over a pathetic excuse for a teacher like him…** **And you'd regret it later, no matter how much of a pain in the ass it might be and no matter how much you think it'll turn out in the end.**" She glanced around for a moment before continuing. "**Just stay in school, man! Bite your tongue and make it to graduation!**"

Yoshiki was keenly listening when he noticed a change in her tone.

"**Honestly…" **She sniffled and her face changed into that of a sorrowful look.

"**Why… why are you crying?**" Yoshiki asked, dumbfounded.

Ayumi quickly wiped her face. "**Ah… sorry. Whenever I give an impassioned speech like that, I always find myself tearing up a little.**"

She looked at the ground for a while before looking back up at him.

"**You're Kishinuma from class 1-5, right?**" she asked, recalling his name from before.

"**Yeah.**"

She smiled. "**I'm Shinozaki from class 1-3. Sorry… to have butt in like that,**" she said, slightly embarrassed. Her cheeks were turning red.

"**Uh, don't… worry about it…**"

"**Later**," she said quickly in good-bye. As she was walking away, Yoshiki called out to her.

"**Hey, when you told him the vice principal was calling…**"

Ayumi turned around and smiled once more. "**Heehee… I was lying, of course.**" She giggled for a bit before walking away.

"**Heheh…**" Yoshiki laughed for himself. It wasn't common for someone to care about him. He didn't know what to make of it.

After standing there in thought, he decided it would be best to go back to class. He wanted to stay in school now, after all. Ayumi gave her some reason to do so.

He walked into his homeroom classroom where there was a math lesson, a subject that he'd always hate. Some eyes were on him as he stepped over to his seat in the back of the room. He paid some kind of attention to the lesson and put some effort into completing the work assigned.

As the math block ended and the homeroom period came around, Hosokawa noticed his more attentiveness. Something must've changed his attitude for school, he thought. Yoshiki spent the rest of the block reading, something he hasn't done for a long time. It was just a simple manga comic about dragons.

Soon, school ended and Yoshiki walked around. He took out his phone and made a phone call to her sister, Miki.

"_**Hey Yoshiki, what's up?**_"

"_**I'm staying in school now. I'm going to try.**_"

"_**That's great! Just keep on working and maybe you'll get into college or something. Our parents have been pretty tense on me lately.**_"

"_**Yeah, I'd imagine.**_"

"_**I gotta go now. See ya around, Yoshiki!**_"

"_**See you.**_"

Yoshiki hung up and closed his phone. He recalled Ayumi's words. Staying in school, is that something he can do? He probably can. He knows it.

* * *

Ayumi was walking out of school. Art club was cancelled for today and there wasn't any student council meetings. It was convenient for her though, since she needs the time off. She noticed Yoshiki standing outside of the school and he started to walk away, putting his phone away in his pocket. He was walking the same direction Ayumi used to walk home. He probably lives near me, Ayumi thought. How come I never see him? Is it because he's usually late or never comes to school?

She passed that thought and headed home, Yoshiki still in sight on the opposite sidewalk. Zooming cars on the road made brief lapsed in vision but they were only brief, after all. It felt sort of, weird that she was following him, but that was the way to her home and nothing could change that. She hoped he wouldn't turn around and see her. Yoshiki scared her in a way, probably because he was a delinquent, or at least an ex-delinquent.

Once she reached her house, she took out her keys and went inside and closed the door, relieved that he didn't spot her. Hinoe was in the living room, nodding at her as she entered. The light from the sliding glass doors to the yard shined in her face as she walked in.

"**How was your day?**" Hinoe asked.

Ayumi was taking her shoes off. "**Fine, but I'm tired from yesterday.**"

"**I could bet on that, seeing as you're all class rep and everything.**" Hinoe winked as Ayumi made her way down the hallway to her room

Ayumi stood sitting on her bed, watching the sunset from her window. It had been a long day for her today. She barely had any sleep from the clean-up of the festival yesterday, so she was thinking about hitting the hay early. Of course, there was that Kishinuma guy. He's always acting like a delinquent. She didn't want him to be like that—she didn't want anyone to be like that.

She stood up and walked out of her room and to the kitchen, where she poured a glass of water to drink. Hinoe wasn't in the kitchen; she probably went back into her room. It was tiring today for her, and she was dehydrated. Making her way back to her room, the sunlight caught her in the eye from one of the open windows. She put up a hand to block it as she made her way back to her room, glass in hand.

Ayumi stared at her laptop on the table. It was a gift from her parents. She started to inch over towards it when suddenly she caught sight of her school work, piled on the table like a stack of bricks ready to be turned in a brick wall. A finished product. She couldn't procrastinate now; she needed to do her work. Games distract people, and she's not going to let that put her down. She glanced at her clock to check the time—4:30 PM. After a few moments, she picked up a pencil and started on her homework.

* * *

Time passed by slowly and the sun began to set. Yoshiki's job was off for a while, so he was back at his apartment concentrating on his school work. It was the first time Yoshiki had ever done his homework well. Previous attempts were half-assed at best since he never paid attention in class. Now, at least he showed some effort. He didn't want to call himself a delinquent anymore. At least, try not to.

Yoshiki stood up from his desk and looked outside. It was fairly dark out and the sun is almost out of view, but some of its light still shined somewhat throughout the sky. His eyes fell over the crosswalk outside for a moment before he closed the window blinds. He glanced at his acoustic guitar for a while but decided to call it a day. He needed some sleep after all.

Before he went to sleep, however, he was still hungry. Deciding it would be best to make his own food, he headed over to the kitchen. Searching the cupboards and cabinets for cooking utensils, he found a metal cooking spatula, measuring cups and pots and pans. He figured some of them came with the apartment when he bought it. Finding a cutting knife, he stared at it for a while before putting it down. He also found some salt and took those out as well.

Opening the refrigerator, he discovered that he'd been running low on groceries lately. There were plenty of eggs left, however, so he decided to make an omelette. He took out two eggs and placed them on the table. Not that he knew how to make one anyway. He checked the seemingly empty fridge once more to see that there were still some onions and butter left, so he took some and put them on the table. He had no idea why he'd bought them in the first place. _Ah well. First time for everything._ Those were the thoughts he had before he was about to hit his PE teacher.

After finding a cutting board and a bowl, he washed his hands first before heading off to his computer in his room to search on how to make an omelette. Reading an article, he now had a general idea of what to do and went back into the kitchen. He wasn't a great cook, but he can try.

First, he cracked the two eggs and put the insides in a bowl, discarding the shells to the side. He found a fork and used it to beat the yolks of the egg until they were consistent with the whites. Next, he put the onion on the cutting board to chop it carefully with the knife. Yoshiki cut the onion in half, taking care not to cut the root on the onion. He peeled the skin on the onion off from both sides and continued cutting. His eyes started to tear up as he sliced.

The words echoed in his mind as his eyes welled up. _Whenever I give an impassioned speech, I always find myself tearing up._ That particular remnant seemingly resonated throughout his desolate apartment, which was very quiet. It was something Yoshiki was accustomed to, living alone like this. Sighing after recalling Ayumi's words, he finished dicing up the onions and put them in the bowl. Mixing the ingredients together, his mindset soon drifted off into off-topic thoughts. Was she always like that? Crying?

Yoshiki continued to mix until he was satisfied. He grabbed one of the pans and put it out on the stove. He remembered that greasing the pan with butter would help, like they said it on the website. He soon poured the mixture onto the pan he had prepared on the stove. Clutching his metal spatula, he attempted to turn the stove on.

After fiddling around with the controls for a while, he finally heard the egg mix sizzle. He did as the website told him to: wait thirty seconds and then flip. Eggs were short to cook. Should be easy enough, he thought. He glanced at the clock on the stove display. _8:34 PM_. Waiting was part of his judgement on this one, no fancy device to keep track of the seconds.

Deciding half a minute has passed already, Yoshiki carefully flipped the egg with the spatula and waited as the sound of the egg sizzling filled the apartment. He could never flip like the chefs would on TV. Because they were professionals, they were born to cook. What was Yoshiki born to do?

Yoshiki's judgement made the call of another thirty seconds passing and he prepared the plate. Carefully sliding the cooked omelette on the plate, he let it sit there to cool. He hoped his cooking would render the food as edible; the sight of the omelette made his stomach growl.

He turned the stove off and started to clean the kitchen up, putting the dirty equipment in the sink along with any food waste in the trash. If this is what all the parents had to do for their kids, he thought, I could understand the result stress.

After cleaning up and achingly washed the dirty utensils, he found a fork and a butter knife and began to eat his finished product, still warm but not too hot. It tasted a bit dry for Yoshiki but it wasn't a major complaint. For his first dish cooked, he'd say it was decent, although it was a fairly easy one to make. He poured himself a glass of milk and continued to eat his omelette, drinking from his glass at various intervals.

Once Yoshiki was done, he put the dish and the knife and the fork along with the glass in the sink. He decided to go into his washroom to brush up and go to bed after that. He was pleased with himself for being able to cook something and not screw it up, like everything else. His parents hated him, but there wasn't anything he could do. They were bad parents, like Tsubota said.

* * *

_Click_. Ayumi put away her lead pencil after finishing the last stroke of writing for her homework. She glanced at the awash of papers spread across her floor. She had thrown them on the ground in frustration. Proceeding to pick them up, she started to recall why she had tossed them in the first place.

Her eyes fell over to the clock in her room. 10:00 PM. She'd spend around six hours on her school work. There was also a project assigned and it put some stress on Ayumi. Her eyes were drooping as she was exhausted from the sheer effort of completing her work and most of her project.

Ayumi put away her books and went to the washroom to brush her teeth. When she was done, she walked into her room and checked her laptop. There wasn't much happening with her friends at this time it seems. Normally, she'd expect a status update on Facebook from one of them, but she assumed the project took out their free-time.

Yawning, she closed the cover and approached her bed. Before she could reach it however, she heard a door knock and the sound of her sister's voice.

"**Can I come in?**"

"**Sure**," Ayumi replied, turning to sit on the edge of the bed.

Hinoe walked in and observed her sister dressed in her school uniform and smiled. "**You haven't changed your clothes since you got home?**" She noticed the heap of papers on Ayumi's desk. "**School work taking a toll on you?**"

Ayumi nodded with a sour expression evident on her face. It can get frustrating at times to do homework, especially when there's a lot thrown at once.

"**Say, Naho updated her blog recently.**" Hinoe motioned over to the laptop, and Ayumi understood.

She stood up and walked over to the laptop to open it and checked Naho's blog.

"**It's a new fortune ritual. Brings good luck by channeling with the life force within a person's willpower.**"

Ayumi slowly read the post over before smiling with content. "**Thanks, sis. This could be useful sometime.**"

Hinoe walked over to the door. "**Anytime, Ayumi.**"

Ayumi closed the laptop and checked her phone's calendar. December 14 was Naomi's birthday. The ritual could be used to give everyone good luck and prosperity, she thought. It would be perfect. She soon changed into her sleep clothing and went over to her bed to fall asleep.


	5. Chapter 5

_Beep. _Yoshiki's alarm continued beeping throughout the morning as he struggled to get up from his bed, shielding his face from the rising sun in the process. The air was still as humid as before. The air conditioner, he thought. It was still broken ever since summer. He needs to get that fixed soon, but money is a problem. He checked his phone for the time: _Tuesday, October 30 - 7:45 AM._

Yoshiki starting on his normal daily routine: brushing his teeth, washing up, getting dressed, make breakfast and off to school. He had some reason to stay enrolled in school, and that hope can go a long way. He didn't own his hope; it was borrowed from someone else. From Ayumi.

_Ayumi._ The name repeated itself in his mind as he walked up the road that leads to Kisaragi. That was when he caught sight of her walking over the hill on his street. Deciding in a flash, he rushed out to catch up.

"**Shinozaki!**" called Yoshiki.

Ayumi turned around cautiously and caught sight of the boy with the bleached hair. Kishinuma, here? He must live close if he's able to catch up with her. She did see him walk home using the same route. Another question was on her mind: is Yoshiki really here and not skipping?

"**Oh. Hi, Kishinuma!**"

She waited for him to catch up and they walked to school together. There wasn't much communication between the two on the way there; there simply wasn't anything to talk about. It just felt safe for her to walk alongside a fellow student.

Yoshiki noticed a candle wick protruding out from Ayumi's skirt pocket. He thought it was rather, strange, so he brought it up as a question.

"**Uh, Shinozaki?**"

"**Mmm? What's up?**"

Yoshiki scratched his head. "**Why is there a candle in your pocket?**"

"**Oh, this?**" Ayumi proceeded to take the white candle out from its place. "**It's for… rituals I guess.**" She started to look down at the ground as she tucked it back in

Yoshiki nodded. He didn't really know much about Ayumi. He didn't really know much about people in school really. His attendance over the summer weeks were at a poor quality They soon reached the school and entered, saying quick farewells on their way to class.

Yoshiki entered his homeroom, 1-5. He proceeded to sit at the back of the room and dozed off, as always. Hosokawa noticed this and after checking his name in the attendance, he started to approach Kishinuma.

"**Kishinuma,**" said Hosokawa, observing him in his sleep.

Yoshiki woke up and sat straight as soon as he heard his voice.

"**Yes, sir?**"

The teacher slowly stroked his chin and sat down in the chair beside him. "**I noticed your performance has increased lately.**"

Yoshiki gave a quick nod and looked away for a while. "**I've been thinking about… school. I guess I can make it to graduation.**"

"**I see.** **It's good that you're staying enrolled.**" Hosokawa let out a sigh. "**Many jobs or other schools require a high school diploma now.**"

"**I know… hey. Is this school a good school for an education?**" said Yoshiki looking back, wondering if this school was worth the trouble.

The teacher thought about this question for a while before giving an answer.

"**You know, Kishinuma,**" he began. "**A good school doesn't mean a good education. There is a very big difference between the two.**"

Yoshiki's expression changed into that of curiosity. "**What do you mean?**"

"**Education, you see, is not simply given. It is something people must work to attain.**" He paused to look around the room at his fellow classmates. "**Sound learning is a want for knowledge, a lust for the truth; building knowledge as opposed to wallowing in ignorance.**"

"**Hmm…**" murmured Yoshiki as he comprehended his teacher's words.

"**Society has, uh, deprecated the concept. It's up to the point where you might get… ostracized for trying to practice it. Some teachers here aren't exactly fond of it either. **_**They**_** chastise people for asking too many questions.**" Hosokawa's eyes darkened a bit at the mention of the term, "they."

Yoshiki took this opportunity to mention the gym teacher. "**Like Tsubota?**"

"**Yes,**" Hosokawa replied, his tone shifting at the sound of that name. "**He's not a good teacher, I'll admit that. He has the wrong type of… discipline.**"

Yoshiki can regretfully remember the words of the arrogant PE teacher when he caught him smoking for the second time on school property. He was a total asshole, Yoshiki thought. This teacher, by the way, isn't so bad. He could consider him as a councillor of sorts.

The school bell rang and Hosokawa stood up. "**You mentioned you lived alone, right? You work for the rent?**"

"**Yeah, in a guitar shop.**" Yoshiki handed the business card of the guitar emporium he worked in. Hosokawa gave a quick nod.

"**I've met your parents, and they aren't exactly nice people,**" he finished, walking away to leave the class for the rotation of the teachers.

Yeah, that seems right, Yoshiki thought. They were bad parents. _Bad parents raise bad kids._ Tsubota's words reverberated in his head.

The class stood up and headed off for their first period class—PE. Nothing really special happened during the 70 minute period of physical work, lead by Mr. Tsubota. The period after was math, followed by a foreign language class—English.

Lunch soon came after, and Yoshiki was still eating up on the roof. Not that anyone seemed to mind anyway; nobody ever came up to the roof except for the custodians or any engineers. It was a place for solitude and thoughts came to him as he sat on the railings, fulfilling the purpose of what some of his peers called him a "loner."

* * *

The afternoon soon went by, nothing really significant happening in his classes—Socials and Home Economics—besides the fact that Yoshiki is actually attending school today. It was something he never thought to be possible, but he's doing it now.

When the day ended, he soon packed up at the sound of the last school bell and began to walk for the school exit. Reaching the exit, he noticed a little girl dressed in a blue smock and white collar—the Kisaragi Junior High girl's uniform. Her short brown hair was accompanied by a pink hairband. When she turned to face him, he could see that her eyes were blue. She carefully approached the blond haired boy.

"**Do you know where my big brother is?**"

Yoshiki took a good look at her to see if she looked familiar. "**Uh, I don't think so.**"

She frowned for a bit before asking something else. "**Do you want to go look with me?**"

Yoshiki stared at his phone cover for the time—3:56 PM. Deciding he still has time to look for this random kid's brother, he gave a slight hint of a smile.

"**Sure, we'll go look for your brother. What's your name?**"

She hesitated for a bit. "**Mochida Yuka.**"

_Mochida._ Where had he heard that name from? It sounds so familiar.

"**Alright, let's go then,**" said Yoshiki.

As he said this, he noticed a small container of beads on the ground. Yuka was ahead, but he took his time to look at it. Picking it up, he found nothing interesting with it and placed it back down and ran to catch up with her.

He kept pondering on the name Mochida throughout their walk around Kisaragi. They walked together in silence, mostly Yuka doing the looking since Yoshiki had no idea of what he looked like.

It wasn't until shortly after Yoshiki checked the time on his phone—4:06 PM—that he heard her spoke.

"**Big brother!**"

Yoshiki observed as she ran towards a brown haired boy dressed with the white Senior High uniform. He spun around as he heard her sister's voice.

"**Oh, Yuka! There you are!**"

Both of them held each other in a brief embrace before Satoshi noticed Yoshiki watching. He pulled out of Yuka's grip to address the blonde that was waiting.

"**Hey... you helped my sister, right?**"

Yoshiki nodded, still trying to see if he knew him.

"**I'm Mochida Satoshi, by the way.**" He gave Yoshiki a brief bow. The name didn't ring any bells, but it still seems like he knew him before.

"**Kishinuma Yoshiki.**" Yoshiki returned the bow. He saw Satoshi's expression shift for a moment. "**Something... wrong?**" he asked in curiosity.

"**Big brother...,**" said Yuka in uneasiness.

Satoshi glanced around at the empty hallway, eyes struggling to meet his gaze. "**Oh, uh no. I've heard about you before, and the fight.**"

Yoshiki could remember that dumbass that wanted it. That guy walked out of the hospital with a broken nose, which was worth the disciplinary action from the principal.

"**Do you wanna like, be friends?**" asked Satoshi, noticing Yoshiki's sudden change of mood. He tried to ignore it though.

The question broke Yoshiki out of his trance-like state. "**Sure,**" replied Yoshiki. It wouldn't hurt to have a friend around, especially one who seems genuine. They started to walk down the hallway.

"**Great!**" said Satoshi, sighing in relief. "**You doing anything today?**"

Yoshiki took a peek over at his phone. 4:10 PM. He decided it was time for him to go.

"**Actually, I have to leave for my, uh... part-time job.**" Yoshiki began to walk towards the exit.

"**Oh. Wait, you don't have any family?**" asked Satoshi, confused.

Yoshiki stopped to answer his question, "**I used to have one. I left them.**"

He walked away after saying those words.

"**Big brother…**"

Satoshi looked down at her little sister and patted her on the head. Yuka was checking her pockets, acting worriedly.

"**C'mon,**" said Satoshi, "**let's go home.**"

"**But… I lost something!**" protested Yuka. "**It was in my pocket!**"

Satoshi scratched his head. "**Ok… I guess we'll find it, together.**" He started to search the halls with Yuka, just like what she had done with Yoshiki before: searching. Searching for something lost.

* * *

It was after 5 PM when Yoshiki arrived at the guitar shop for his shift. He had changed his outfit after arriving at home to get ready for his job. He spotted the manager at the door and he gave a nod, indicating that his shift was about to begin. Sighing, he took his place at the counter and awaited customers. He noticed the previous cashier leaving, giving Yoshiki a quick wave as he walked out, which he returned the gesture.

He sharply inhaled and was met with the scent of fresh wood, along with his ears filled with sounds from shoppers testing out guitars with the amplifiers that were also on sale. There wasn't much going on, especially during a workday or a school day when everyone else was occupied. It's usually during the evenings when customers would fill the building; weekends also tend to be popular factors for a gathering inside the shop.

Nothing was out of the ordinary until after 8 PM, when he noticed somebody familiar walk into the shop. His teacher. Hosokawa slowly walked in the store and took a good look around before noticing Yoshiki at the counter. His normal toughened expression loosened up a bit at this moment, and Yoshiki nodded. Hosokawa then went to browse the selection of guitars.

After a short while, Yoshiki's teacher came up to the counter holding a _Vintage 1970 Fender Telecaster_ and placed it on the table. He didn't know his teacher was a guitar player, or maybe he was buying it for his friend or maybe his kids if he had any; Yoshiki didn't know much about Hosokawa's personal life, anyway.

Yoshiki scanned the barcode with the scanner and the price read _$1,140_. It's a rather big investment, thought Yoshiki. But this was Hosokawa's life, not his. Shouldn't be trying to get into other people's life so much.

Hosokawa dug around in his pocket and pulled out his wallet. From there, he pulled out his credit card and swiped it across the reader and entered his pin code. Yoshiki waited until the receipt printed out and then took it out of the printer and handed it over to Hosokawa, along with the guitar case.

While doing so, Hosokawa handed Yoshiki a note.

"**You know what to do.**"

Hosokawa left shortly after relaying those words and Yoshiki was still in the process of examining the note. He finally received the message as his expression exploded into satisfaction.

As soon as his daily shift was over at 8 PM, he packed up and went home, note clutched in hand. Walking along the dark road that was filled with occasional cars passing by, he reached the familiar crosswalk that lead to his apartment block on the other side of the street.

He soon reached his apartment suite and went in. Yawning, he put down the note on the table in his room and went over to his kitchen to grab a frozen entree from the freezer and put it in the microwave. He punched in four minutes and pressed start. This would be his dinner for tonight. He noticed his hand smelled like caramel, but he dismissed it as part of the entree; it had a brownie as a dessert anyway, so it probably came from that.

Yoshiki went over to his couch and grabbed the TV remote. He switched it on and kept browsing channels for anything decent to watch to kill the time.

* * *

"**Do you like it?**"

Seiko stood in the middle of the school foyer, showing a container full of brown beads to Ayumi. She studied it for a while before giving her opinion.

"**Yeah… it smells like caramel. Where'd ya find it?**"

Seiko glanced down at the floor. "**I found it dropped somewhere on the ground.**"

"**Oh.. that's… strange I guess,**" replied Ayumi. She observed as Seiko pocketed the container in her pocket of her uniform.

"**Wonder what's Naomi's up to,**" wondered Seiko in despair. "**Oh well… let's just go home. It's getting late.**"

Ayumi looked at her phone—8:24 PM. "**Yeah, I agree.**"

They both walked out of the school and climbed down the steps when Seiko suddenly tripped over the stairs and let out a scream of agony.

"**Ow, shit!**"

Ayumi quickly reacted and noticed Seiko sprawling on the ground. She helped her up and asked, "**Are you alright?**"

"**Yeah, but**…"—she looked at her legs and noticed it—"**I think I sprained my ankle.**" The area was starting to get redder and redder and Seiko kept it raised.

"**Alright, well… stay here. I'm going to get some ice from the school.**" Ayumi stood up and ran back in the school. She quickly made her way to the cafeteria. It was pretty late, and some of the custodians closed some of the doors but none of them blocked her path.

The cafeteria lights were off, the only source of light seeping in from the windows. She found the kitchen and grabbed a paper towel to wrap the ice with. After opening the freezer and taking some ice and wrapping it, she ran back outside to Seiko. She wasn't athletic by any means, so she was out of breath and fatigued quickly.

Taking the ice from Ayumi's hand, she put it over the affected area.

"**Thanks,**" croaked Seiko as she winced in pain.

Ayumi thought about an idea for a second before planning to act on it. She took some tape from her backpack and some cloth from textiles class and made a makeshift cast. She could always get more cloth for her project from home; they have a lot of other pieces and samples anyway.

Seiko made an attempt to stand up. Although she struggled, she eventually made it with Ayumi's help once more.

"**I really appreciate it, Shinozaki,**" said Seiko, smiling.

Ayumi nodded and smiled back. "**Let's just get home before something else happens.**"

They both walked down the street together, Ayumi helping Seiko as she limped.

"**So, what're you going to do for Naomi's birthday?**" asked Seiko.

"**I… guess I have some special ritual for the occasion.**"

Seiko snickered quietly. "**Haha, of course you do.** **Maybe you should find another for my birthday.**"

They both walked together in silence after that, until Ayumi spoke. "**I should call Mochida and ask him to come for the party.**"

"**Yeah, I bet he'd **_**really**_** want to go. I wonder what gift he has for her.**"

After walking for a few minutes, she reached her house and unlocked the door with her keys. As soon as she entered and closed the door, she went down the hallway and into her room. After changing her outfit, she proceeded pick up her phone to call Satoshi. There was a hint of nervousness on her fingers as she browsed her phonebook.

"_**Hello?**_" came Satoshi's voice.

"_**Hey, Mochida. I was wondering if you'd like to come to Nakashima's birthday in December.**_" Ayumi's eyes paced nervously around the room.

There was a pause before he spoke again. "_**Sure. I'll be there.**_"

"_**Ok, cool. Bye now!**_" Ayumi hung up and put her cellphone back down on her table. Suddenly, she heard Hinoe call for her from the living room. She went out of her room and went back to the front area where the living room was.

"**You came home pretty late.**"

Ayumi yawned for a bit before replying. "**My friend and I were at school, finishing up school work. Then she sprained her ankle, so I had to help her.**"

"**I see,**" said Hinoe. "**Hey, guess who's on the news?**"

Ayumi took a look at the TV and noticed the person talking. "**Isn't that Saenoki?**"

"**Yep. Remember how I told you about her chance of winning the Akutagawa award?**"

Ayumi nodded, recalling Hinoe's words from before.

Hinoe laughed. "**Well, here she is, haha! Winning it.**"

Ayumi looked at Naho on the TV. She didn't look that much younger to her.

"**Wow,**" said Ayumi in awe. "**I know I'll be like her, successful and talented.**"

"**That's the Ayumi I know!**" remarked Hinoe. They both continued to watch as Naho was getting commemorated.

* * *

Yoshiki read the news flash caption: _Saenoki Naho wins Akutagawa award. _He didn't really know what it was about and he kept watching as he finished up eating his microwaved entree.

"_**I would like thank Kou Kibiki as my mentor, Sayaka Ooue for...**_"

The TV signal was shut off when Yoshiki hit the power button on the remote. He discarded the empty entree tray into the trash bin and brushed up in his bathroom. Soon after, he went off into his room.

Yoshiki noticed the note from Hosokawa on his table, and he stood there, staring at it. At last, he finally knew what he had to do to get revenge on Tsubota, that fucking piece of...

His thoughts were abruptly cut as he collapsed on his bed, tired and exhausted. He needed the rest.


	6. Chapter 6

"**I'm going now!**" Ayumi called from the front door of her house.

The voice that came back was her father's. "**Come back home safe, alright?**"

Ayumi shut the door and walked down out the front yard with a gift in her hands. She checked her phone for the time, which showed _Friday, December 14th - 5:40 PM_. Naomi's birthday. She looked down at her casual attire to check her pockets for the candles required for the ritual she had planned, and sure enough they were there.

When she looked up, she noticed Yoshiki in the distance, walking away, not appearing to notice her. She didn't really know what he was up to, so she decided keep a low profile from him; it was best to not meddle in other people's affairs, anyway.

Ayumi turned tail and headed for an alternate route. It was better to be late than get spotted following; the encounter would've been coincidental but there's also a high chance of awkwardness. She took a right towards another street and kept walking, hoping to reach the Nakashima residence in time.

When she arrived at the gate of Naomi's house, she checked the time. 5:56 PM. The change of route only added around six minutes—nothing too major to miss anything.

Ayumi couldn't help but notice the two-story house had a feeling of closeness to it. The driveway was pretty small anyway.

She opened the double gate and worked her way up to the front door and knocked. There was a slight pause before the familiar face of Satoshi in a casual white sweater appeared as the door opened. Her gaze was fixed on his eyes.

"**Hey, Shinozaki. C'mon in.**"

Ayumi stepped inside, still locked onto his eyes. She closed the door behind her. He eventually walked away back into the living room, presumably where everyone else was.

Ayumi followed him into the living room and expected to see Naomi and Seiko. She had to turn her head from Satoshi to giggle for herself at the thought. Sometimes, they felt like more than friends. She stowed her gift away in one of her hoodie pockets.

When she arrived, she only saw Naomi in a blue hoodie with jeans, sitting in the living room on a couch, looking a bit down. Seiko was nowhere in sight. Maybe that was the reason, Ayumi thought.

"**Where's Shinohara at?**" asked Ayumi.

Naomi looked up and said, "**She had something to do with her family. Seiko said she would be back earlier.**"

"**Oh, I see,**" said Ayumi.

Ayumi took a good look around and spotted a flat screen. There were also various potted plants and portraits throughout the house. There was also a portrait of what she believed to be Naomi's parents.

"**Where are your parents at?**"

"**Oh, my mom's attending a special event at her nursing school tonight.**"

"**And your dad?**"

**My dad is, uh—**" Naomi stopped for a while, eyes moving to peer down at the floor. "**—well… he's passed away.**"

Ayumi's expression bummed out. "**Oh… I'm sorry to hear that…**"

Naomi sighed. "**It's ok…**"

Ayumi moved her eyes away and looked over at Satoshi to distract herself. Satoshi noticed this gesture and smiled back. The reaction from Ayumi was a blush.

"**So... uh... when are we heading out for the party hangout thing?**" asked Satoshi to break the silence.

"**Probably right now,**" said Naomi,_ "_**I think this is all we invited besides Seiko.**"

Yoshiki. That was the name that popped in Ayumi's head. What could he be doing at this time? She looked at her phone for the time—6:03 PM.

"**Oh, what about K—**"

For some reason, she couldn't finish her sentence. Her eyes wandered around the room as a distraction method.

"**Who?**" asked Naomi, curious about her intentions.

"**Oh, it's uh... no one.**" Ayumi thought of something to take the pressure off. She shifted her attention to the current environment. "**You two were here alone?**"

Satoshi blushed "**Uh... well...**" They both exchanged glances. "**I mean, this is all she invited, right?**"

"**Yeah,**" said Naomi, letting out a long sigh. She was unconsciously playing with her short hair. Ayumi had a faint smirk on her face.

"**Well, should we go out then?**" said Ayumi.

"**Sure,**" replied Satoshi, "**but where do we go?**"

Ayumi thought for a while until Naomi popped in with an idea.

"**Maybe we could go buy a cake!**"

Satoshi scratched his head. "**I think it would be better if Shinohara were around.**"

"**Oh, right...**"

Ayumi pitched in with her idea after some thinking. "**We could, like, head to the arcade. The one near school.**"

"**That doesn't sound too bad. Alright, let's go then!**" Naomi finally revealed a smile, which was contagious with the others present.

"**Hope you're both done your homework,**" reminded Ayumi as they walked to the front door. "**I've already completed mine.**"

Satoshi grinned. "**Of course... you would be done. You're the try hard class rep anyway.**"

"**Hey!**" exclaimed Ayumi, flustered. "**I'm the one setting the example and representing, not you.**"

"**Haha, whatever. I'm done mine as well.**" Satoshi hesitated for a moment. "**I hope.**"

* * *

The gang of three stepped out into the breezy December air and closed the door behind them. They then made their way on the street to the nearest arcade. Naomi had her phone out, texting a message to Seiko about their planned location. Satoshi had his hands in his pockets, staying quiet with them. Ayumi was quietly observing her surroundings, along with Satoshi.

"**The trees are dead, huh,**" mumbled Ayumi. Her hands were together in a v-shape in front of herself, walking along with the group.

Naomi put away her phone, and began to speak. "**Do you know where the nearest cake shop would be?**"

Satoshi looked around, but seemed to remember something. "**Well, there's this restaurant my family usually goes to. I think they have birthday specials there.**"

"**Oh, that sounds nice!**" said Naomi, smiling with a hint of nervousness. "**Well, thanks for coming, guys.**"

"**No problem,**" said Ayumi, returning the smile.

They soon reached the arcade after calmly walking for a few minutes. As they began to enter, Naomi suddenly let out a shriek.

"**Gah! Seiko! How many times have I told you!**"

Seiko's usual cat-like nature began to show. She smiled in the fashion that she's known for.

"**How did you get here this quick?**" asked Ayumi.

"**Well, I was finished taking care of my siblings at school when Naomi sent me the message,**" Seiko began. "**This arcade wasn't too far from it, so I made my way here.**"

The group of four entered the arcade. The place lit up from the numerous amounts of machines. It was also filled with kids, presumably from junior high and elementary. Upon closer observations, Ayumi noticed uniforms belonging to Kisaragi.

They went and bought tokens to spend. They decided to buy fifty and put it in a token bag. First, they started with the crane game. Satoshi inspected the machine and its contents. Various of stuffed animals were littered throughout the glass box.

"**Huh... this one requires three tokens,**" commented Satoshi.

"**That's just how marketing works, I guess,**" scoffed Ayumi.

Seiko chimed in. "**Anyways, won't you do the honors, Mochida-kun?**"

"**What?**" he responded, slightly dazzled.

Seiko leaned in closer for a whisper. "**It could be a gift for her...**" She giggled and leaned back.

Satoshi looked down at his bag, his face red. He then looked at Naomi for a few moments before he turned to glare at the machine, giving it a fierce look. He began to fill the machine with three tokens and took control of the crane.

Satoshi was aiming for a pink teddy bear sticking out from the middle. He hovered over the predicted position of the crane and pressed to button to lower it.

The mechanical sound of a crane as it lowered soon came through. Ayumi, who was also watching, noticed a peculiar thing: the crane went down at an offset.

"**Rigged... of course.**" Satoshi sighed, having also noticed the fault. "**The prize can't be that bad though, right?**"

The crane went down and grabbed its load. It soon came out of the pile with a small penguin plush. It wasn't as big as what Satoshi hoped for.

"**Haha, three tokens for that,**" joked Ayumi.

"**Geez...**"

**"It's ok, Satoshi**..," said Naomi.

Naomi was watching as the crane automatically went over the prize hole and released its catch. Satoshi then put his hands in the compartment to retrieve the penguin. Naomi then watched as Satoshi held it out for her to take.

"**For... you,**" said Satoshi, with a burning sensation visible on his face.

Seiko shot him a wink and thumbs up while Ayumi nodded.

"**Oh, uh, thanks…**" Naomi took the miniature penguin and stared at it for a moment before placing it inside her bag. She shot Satoshi an awkward smile after that, which he returned with his own.

"**What should we do next?**" asked Satoshi, keenly observing in the midst of flashing lights and noises.

"**Oh, how about that one?**" Naomi pointed towards the stacker machine.

The party walked over to it and looked it over. Ayumi put one hand up to her face, finger under lip as she inspected it.

"**This is probably rigged as well, right?**" Ayumi asked with skepticism.

"**Probably, I guess,**" said Satoshi, who was also looking over the machine. "¥**100 for a play...**"

Ayumi noticed the columns and the two rows of minor and major prize lines. She looked at the prize pool, and noticed a Wii, a camera, an iPod, and other miscellaneous items. What really caught her eye, though, was the PlayStation Portable. She always wanted to get one but her parents didn't buy it when she asked.

"**How does it work?**" asked Seiko. "**I never really heard of this game.**"

Satoshi coughed then answered her question. "**Basically, you have to stack the boxes up until the top, or the minor prize.**"

Seiko's face changed into discovery. "**Oh. I could see how it could be rigged... considering the prizes are nice.**"

Ayumi decided to ask something, even though it was Naomi's birthday. "**Hey, Mochida-kun...**"

"**Huh?**" Satoshi turned his head to look at Ayumi.

Ayumi looked down at the ground, shy eyes not visible. "**Could you like... play the game? Win something?**"

"**I guess I could try...**"

Ayumi's blush got redder and redder. She also notices and feels her own heart beating as fast as possible. Satoshi and the others could probably notice the sound of the throbbing feelings. _If only I could confess to him..._

"**...Thanks,**" she said, looking away.

Satoshi walked up to the machine and inserted a ¥100 coin into the slot and pressed the red start button. A woman's pre-recorded voice came out, talking about good luck and winning.

Satoshi watched as the three row set of boxes appeared at the bottom and moved sideways. He pressed the other red button. _Tap_. The set stopped in place and another set of three appeared on the top, mimicking the previous movements. He waited until the right moment to strike. _Tap_. Another set of three appeared. Patiently waiting. _Tap_. This time, a set of two appeared on the three by three box that Satoshi had constructed. The speed of the left and right movements also increased, increasing difficulty.

"**So that's how this game works,**" said Seiko, watching among the other three party members.

_Tap_. Satoshi watches as another set of two appeared on top and waited to line it up. _Tap._ The process was completed successfully, with only three rows left until a minor prize. But, there was only a single box now with added speed to make it harder.

"**Wow, you're good at this!**" exclaimed Naomi in delight.

"**Eh... not really,**" replied Satoshi, tepidly.

Another wait until it was lined up properly. _Tap_. Two more rows to go until the minor prize. He patiently waited until it was right. He waited for the box to line up. _Tap. _Last row to go. The box is in the prize line now, repeatedly moving back and forth in a rhythm. He can't fail this one. He closed his eyes and took a deep breath. He opened his eyes and looked. In that moment, the box was over the tower. He decided to take the chance and applied pressure. Control the attention and distractions and channel it into patience.

_Tap._

"**Wow. You did it, Satoshi!**" screamed Naomi.

"**Mochida-kun!**" said Seiko, also amused.

Ayumi nodded. "**Good job, Mochida-kun**."

The pre-recorded voice stated that he could either claim the minor prize or attempt to win a major prize.

"**I think I don't want to waste any more money trying, thanks,**" stated Satoshi. "**I think I just go lucky here, haha.**"

Naomi smiles. "**Oh, alright.**"

Satoshi hit the start button to claim the current tier. He looked at the minor prize pool. There were some big stuffed dice, combination locks school supplies and a small frog plushie. They all watched as Satoshi picked the over-sized dice.

It was too bad he didn't continue, thought Ayumi. He could've gotten a chance of getting a PSP. _For me._

"**Well, we still got these tokens,**" said Naomi, waving the bag of tokens. "**Let's go have some fun!**"

The group went around, playing with different machines and games. The amounts of prize tickets were high as their luck seemed high today. They were all having a generally good time.

"**I never knew you were strong, Naomi!**" commented Seiko after observing her efforts on the smash machine. The counter almost reached the top.

"**Well, I did try my hardest...**"

Seiko suddenly approached her from behind and grabbed her breasts and began fondling.

"**Maybe your big boobs give you extra milk for your bones! Make them super strong!**"

"**Agh, stop Seiko! Everyone's wa—**"

The attention of Satoshi, Ayumi and several other bystanders were soon directed at the duo. Seiko, however, didn't notice.

"**STOOOOOP!**"

After a few moments, Seiko finally let go. She took a few seconds to catch her breath and caught sight of Satoshi.

"**Well... I think those are all the tokens we have,**" said Satoshi in awkwardness. "**Let's just go redeem our tickets now.**"

"**Yes. **_**Let's.**_" said Ayumi.

They walked up to the counter and inserted all of their prize tickets into the counter. From there, it totalled to 855 tickets.

Seiko laughed. "**Damn, that's a lot.**"

The amount of prizes available at that range is pretty moderate. The biggest one at that amount of tickets was a purple dragon plush toy.

"**Well, you can choose. You're the birthday girl after all,**" reminded Satoshi.

She studied the display of prizes for a suitable choice. It took a while, but she finally decided on a purple stuffed rabbit for 800 tickets. With the rest of the tickets, they bought some school supplies, since there wasn't much that could be bought with 55 tickets anyway.

After their time in the arcade, they headed out into the street. The traffic in the arcade has died down, since it's getting late. Satoshi checked the time on his phone—6:45 PM.

"**We should get the cake and stuff soon,**" said Satoshi.

"**Yeah, show us to the restaurant you were talking about,**" replied Ayumi.

Satoshi led the group of girls through the streets to find the restaurant, not too far from the arcade. After a while, the restaurant came into view—Ruby Bakery and Restaurant.

They stepped in and they were instantly met with a whiff of the usual bakery scent: freshly baked bread, cakes, pies; basically, anything that they could imagine in a bakery could be smelled. Naomi peered into the variety of cakes and pies available.

"**I think I want this one**," said Naomi, pointing to a round vanilla cake with chocolate cream outlines and cherries on top.

Satoshi nodded. "**I'll pay for it.**"

Naomi smiled. "**Oh really? Thanks**."

The rest of the group found a table to sit down while Satoshi proceeded to pay for the cake and get it set up for the birthday, writing the name on the cake and all that.

"**This is a nice place,**" noted Ayumi, seeing the tables and the overall presentation of this place was superb.

"**Yeah, I didn't know there was a place like this close to school,**" said Naomi. "**Reminds me of my mom's apple pie.**"

Seiko nodded slowly. "**You can cook right? Why didn't you make the cake yourself?**"

"**I didn't really… feel like it.**"

At that moment, Satoshi arrived carrying a cake in a container. He put it down in the middle of the table and took the open seat next to Naomi.

"**So… gifts?**" mentioned Naomi.

The other three fiddled around with their bags and took out their gifts for Naomi.

"**Oh, so you got a cookbook for me, Seiko?**"

"**Yep! Since you liked cooking so much**." Seiko beamed a smile at Naomi.

Naomi looked over at the other gifts. She noticed a portrait of herself on the table, probably drawn by Ayumi.

"**That's a nice drawing, Shinozaki!**" Naomi took the drawing and looked at it closely. It was drawn with an anime style present and a background with the Kisaragi Academy.

Ayumi shot a small smile. "**I spent a lot of time drawing it. Around like, three months.**"

"**So she got the bust size right…**" murmured Seiko, pouting her lips.

Ayumi turned beet red at the thought. "**Well… they are quite big…**" She turned self-conscious and looked down at her own chest.

"**Moving on,**" said Naomi to change the subject, "**what's your gift, Satoshi?**"

"**Oh, uhm…**" Satoshi produced a light brown teddy bear out of his bag. "**It's… for you…**" He was blushing from the embarrassment.

Seiko grabbed the teddy bear and grabbed its bottom. She then slapped it a bunch of times, grinning at Naomi.

"**Uhh…**" Naomi raised an eyebrow. "**What are you doing?**"

The group stared at Seiko with bewilderment until she stopped spanking the bear and put it in Naomi's hands.

"**Anyways, thanks guys for the gifts,**" said Naomi, gratefully.

The party smiled and they decided to start eating the cake. But before they could, Ayumi had something to do with it.

She took out her candles that were in her pockets and put them on the cake in the shape of the Sagittarius Zodiac glyph—an arrow with a curved line, representing an archer's bow and arrow. There were sixteen candles in total. After arranging them, Ayumi proceeded to light them up.

"**The way the candles are set up will guarantee you good luck and fortune for a long time,**" explained Ayumi.

Naomi and the others listened with curiosity and nodded at the prose. She studied Ayumi's face—it was full of sincerity and happiness for this moment.

"**It's my Zodiac sign right?**"

"**Yep. The intelligent and curious, always thoughtful of others. A sharp eye of the latest trends in culture and fashion too.**" Ayumi smiled before saying, "**It's time for you to make a wish, and blow the candles.**"

Naomi nodded and closed her eyes for a few moments before blowing out all sixteen candles. Her birthday wish was unknown to the group.

I wonder what she wished for, Ayumi thought.

"**OK! It's time to eat up!**" cried Seiko, retaining her usual amiable self.

Naomi took the candles out of the cake and returned them to Ayumi. The candles were a bit dirty from the bread of the cake, but she merely wiped them with a tissue and put them aside. Satoshi went to get a knife and plates for serving the cake. Ayumi watched as he stood up to get the utensils.

"**Shinozaki…**"

Ayumi turned her gaze to Naomi. "**Mmm?**"

"**I really think this charm will work.**" She shot Ayumi a bright smile.

"**I do too…**"

Seiko butted in their little conversation. "**Hey, Naomi!**" She had her phone out in her right hand.

"**Yeah?**"

She looked down at her phone. "**It says here that people who are born under the sign of Sagittarius has a '**_**large proportional body**_**.' Like yours!**" she enunciated, making squishing motions with her other hand while gazing at Naomi's chest.

"**Oh, you…**" Naomi playfully slapped Seiko on the face.

"**Too bad,**" pouted Seiko, "**I was born after the Sagittarius**."

Naomi grinned. "**Yours are pretty big too, you know.**"

Ayumi sighed from hearing their little conversation. She suddenly turned self-conscious of her own chest once again when Satoshi arrived with the plates and the knife. He carefully cut the cake into eight slices and put one on each plate.

Ayumi looked down at the cake. It looked pretty delicious.

"**Thanks, Mochida-kun!**"

"**No problem.**" He smiled.

Seiko finally turned hyper. "**Let's dig in!**"

The group members put their hands together and let out a quick 'itadakimasu' before devouring their slice.

* * *

"**Well… shit**"

The door to Yoshiki's former home closed in his face as he was denied from seeing her little sister, Miki. He sighed as he descended down the steps of the house and exited the yard through the gate, bag over his shoulder.

He checked his phone for the time—6:57 PM. It was getting late, he thought, maybe I should head home. Trudging through the streets on Tenjin, he reflected back on the truth of his parents. They hated him, and he hated them back. He wished that Miki would move in with him. '**Disowned by your parents,**' Tsubota had told him. '**Living on your own… got no friends**...'

What friends did he have anyway? He couldn't name any friend that he had. Maybe Satoshi, maybe Ayumi, but nothing solid. He always spent his time on the roof at school, or skipping classes mostly. But, he's changed from that now. Why? Because of Ayumi. Could he consider her as a friend?

Now trudging on the road that led to school, he realized how much his life was meaningless. There wasn't much to do at all; school didn't do much for him, so why should he do things for the school? He bickered at the thought for a while before coming to the conclusion: it was for Ayumi. She was the one that gave him courage to stay in school. She believed in him. She did something for him, so why should he turn her down?

He felt the sense of guilt rise in him and grimaced. The sky was turning darker and darker from the winter time daylight difference. The sun had already set, but he could make out the surroundings of the school. The lights were still on, for some reason. Perhaps there were custodians cleaning the school overnight? Still, he didn't dwell too much on the matter and proceeded towards the school gate.

I need to do it, he thought as he walked towards the front doors. It was time for the truth to be revealed. He noticed dripping from the sky and noticed it was starting to rain. Didn't bring an umbrella, he thought as stepped into the school foyer. He went straight to his shoe locker to change into his indoor shoes; he could at least maintain a sense of decency to the school.

The school was eerily quiet, like a dead silence. There weren't any custodians around either, but he considered the size of the academy; the junior high and the senior high were merged together, each in separate wings. It was logical to think that the custodians would be elsewhere in the massive building. He made his way around the school halls, noticing the rain was picking up now. It was an absolute downfall. His mind was on the topic of getting home without getting soaked until he reached the staff room. He cautiously slid the door open and peeked into the staff room and noticed the room had no soul in sight.

Stepping into the staff room and sliding the door back, the thought of cameras went through his mind. Did this school have cameras? Probably not. How old was the school anyway? He searched the walls for any sign of the date of inauguration and stumbled upon a plaque.

_April 1st, 1978._ The school was around 29 years old. It was pretty old, so it would make sense that it wouldn't have updated technology. The school still used blackboards anyways, not whiteboards. Probably too expensive for the school, he thought.

He searched the school records for any sign of the information he needed. Finally, he found a folder with the correct intel he'd been looking for. He read the title: Mikio Tsubota. That bastard's going to get what's coming.

Suddenly, he was interrupted by a series of noises coming from down the hall. To be more precise, it was from the infirmary. Footsteps, coming down the hall. _Tap. Tap. Tap. _He thought of a quick way to avoid the unknown presence and hid behind a desk. The staff room was on the first floor, he thought. I could probably escape from there, but not in this rain…

His heart skipped a beat when he heard the sound of the door sliding open. He didn't dare to peek over the desk. What is this shit, he thought. Is it a custodian? His mind was swimming his thoughts when he was met with a cold, hard sensation on his wrist. It was a hand of a woman.

He turned his head to meet the perpetrator, sweating from fear and apprehension. The figure that stood before him had a contorted neck and was glowing white. He flinched at the sight and his expression was in a state of disarray. This wasn't a custodian, so what the hell is it?

"**You're still here?**" the voice rang in his ears coldly. "**You need to be punished for this action…**"

"**Let go of me, you asshole! Get the hell away from me!**" He struggled to free himself from the grip, but the grip was like an iron grip. Inhuman, possibly. The woman put her other hand on her throat and started to choke him. He couldn't breathe, and was struggling to break free. But, with every inch of effort, the grip tightened.

He noticed another smaller figure from behind her. The figure looked feminine, and she looked pretty familiar to him. Just when he was about to make assumptions, the other figure spoke.

* * *

"**Wake up, Kishinuma-kun!**"

Ayumi was trying to pry Yoshiki's hands away from his throat. Thinking of a quick solution, she proceeded to slap him hard on the face. At this action, Yoshiki's grip freed and he gasped for air frantically, still sprawled on the ground.

"**W-what?**" he managed to croak out. His eyes were focusing on Ayumi's eyes, locking on to each other.

She was still confused about his actions from earlier.

"**You were asleep, and you…**" She shivered at the thought. "**You were choking yourself.**"

"**What?!**" Yoshiki stood up and looked at his hands. He closed his eyes shut for a moment and remembered the nightmare. Who the hell was the woman? When he opened his eyes, he noticed something else on Ayumi's face.

"**Are you… crying?**"

Ayumi's face grew hotter as she noticed the tears coming down her cheek.

"**Well, you did call me an asshole…**"

"**I did?**" He remembered calling the hostile figure some derogatory terms before waking up. "**Oh… they weren't directed at you. It was at the… thing.**"

"**Thing?**" She looked around. "**I didn't see anything near you when I found you.**"

"**It was in my nightmare though…**"

_Nightmare. _The words echoed in her head. She recalled sensing a presence around Yoshiki when she approached, but the energy was gone now.

"**Spirits…**"

"**Huh?**"

She frowned. "**Nevermind. Anyways, what are you doing here?**"

"**Oh, I was, uh…**" He looked for an excuse. "**I was getting something I left at school.**"

"**Don't you usually skip school, though?**" she asked with skepticism.

Shit, he thought. I wanted to do something for her, but… she notices I skip school a lot. Yoshiki didn't give Ayumi an answer, full of guilt.

"**You know… it's no use trying to skip. What good comes out of it? There are more things in life that require a high school graduation, like college.**" She sighed and stood up. "**Kishinuma-kun… stay in school. Please.**"

Yoshiki stood up as well and closed his eyes when giving his answer. "**I will.**"

Ayumi smiled. "**Well, I need to head home now, and I think you should as well.**"

"**Yeah…wait.**"

Ayumi was walking away but then stopped. She turned around to face him.

"**What are you doing here, anyway?**"

"**I was walking home from a party, that's all.**"

Ayumi then turned again and walked away while Yoshiki stood at the school gate, wondering what he was doing. Was that dream real? She said he was choking himself before, so it might be something strange. What did she say… spirits? Could that be it? It was preposterous, sure, but it had some meaning.

He checked his bag he was carrying. The folder was there. He smiled. There might be something he could do for her, after all.

Ayumi kept walking down the streets towards her house, thinking about the past few moments. After the party was over, she walked home along the street she used to get to her house, which ran by the front of the school. From there, he saw Yoshiki, on the ground. At the scene, he was groaning and when she approached, he started to yell and choke himself. What could this be, she wondered. There was a gut feeling that she should've walked near school, and she followed it.

When she arrived at home, she went to Hinoe's room and knocked. When she was given the OK to come in, she asked her a question.

"**Hey Hinoe, what does it mean when you sense a ghost around someone who's sleeping?**"

Hinoe hesitated for a moment. "**Well… it might mean the ghost is influencing their dreams somehow. It's kind of a… strange topic…**"

Ayumi nodded. "**Thanks, big sis.**"

She left her room and went to her own room. She sat down on her bed and looked out the window. Could there be something with Yoshiki? Why was he trying to choke himself in his dream? What did the spirit want with him?


	7. Chapter 7

Yoshiki peered out the window from his recent nap. The winter didn't give way to any snow. Not that it snowed much in Japan, anyway. Furthermore, it was night and he was in an apartment building, meaning it wouldn't be easy to see any snow if there was any. But, the street lights allowed some vision, a representation of hope. At least the crosswalk was lit up.

He stood up from his bed and looked at his calendar on his desk. December 25th. Christmas. Too bad there wasn't anyone to celebrate it with. His eyes also peered towards the clock as well—8:20 PM. There was a rush of cold air as he stood up from his covers. This reminded him of his landlord's words earlier about fixing up the heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems. He mentioned the workers would come at around 9:00 PM.

Deciding it would be best to do something when they come to work, he put on a black hoodie and some jeans to head outside. Making his way down the all too familiar steps of the apartments, he walked out the door. The streets lights appeared to be more obvious at the change in perspective.

Strolling along the night streets, he noticed a poster on the wall. The content on it displayed an anime drawing and the kanji symbols meaning the school's Christmas drama production. A reenactment of _A Christmas Carol, starring Morishige Sakutaro. _There was one running during the day and one during late night. He wasn't exactly interested in that type of stuff. Nothing from school really interested him, anyway. Also, he had somewhere else to go to.

He reached his intended destination, following a piece of information he had received from the school's records earlier in the year. _Tenjin 4-14. _It was the address of his PE teacher—Tsubota. A single story house.

Cautiously, he tried the backdoor. A front door approach would be foolish; it was likely to be locked anyway. Nevertheless, the back door was locked as well. He soon decided to ring the doorbell and go hide as a test to see if anybody's home. When he did that, nobody answered. A smirk was starting to form on his once emotionless face.

He walked around the house to look for any signs of an opening, but there wasn't any. All the windows were locked. He stood there for a moment, thinking about the action he was about to begin in the next few moments. Finally, he refused to do so and fortunately found and unlocked a glass sliding door. He slid it open with one arm and entered.

He set to work on inspecting the house for any dirt on this teacher. There were many posters of sports plastered throughout the house. Seems to be full of himself, he thought. There were also several of workout equipment and a treadmill. He was careful not to touch anything to not leave and fingerprints behind.

After an extended period of time, there wasn't much to be found in this house. Sighing in defeat, he exited through the glass door, trying avoiding touching contact. On his way out, he noticed a sign for a volleyball tournament posted up on a telephone pole. Could he be there, he thought. It was a possibility.

After reaching the location of the tournament, at Kisaragi's gym, he noticed Tsubota in the bleachers. Quietly, he made his way up and blended in with the crowd. Although his blonde hair stuck out, he put up his hood to cover it up.

A boys' volleyball tournament, huh. What kind of interest would he have here? He paid most of his attention to his PE teacher, and noticed he was only watching one person in particular. What kind of association did he have with him?

He noticed that a student went up to converge with him. His attitude from a distance seemed well-relaxed than the attitude from when he talked to Yoshiki back in October. It's clear that this teacher treats some students more better than some others. Teachers with a prejudiced opinion on their students are simply lousy. Then again, what difference did his own opinion make? Most of the teachers he had were lousy as well.

At that time, his phone rang. He unflipped his phone and read the caller ID, which displayed the name of his younger sister. He looked around to see if anyone was playing attention.

"_**Huh, Miki? What do you want?**_"

"_**Hey, uh… I was wondering if you'd like to come to the Christmas play at school.**_"

Now he was faced with a dilemma of attending to his younger sister or staying here to watch his most hated teacher's actions. It wasn't a pretty choice to make, since these things both didn't really happen often. He doesn't know this guy's schedule, so he doesn't have a clue where he'd be next. On the other hand, his parents refuse him to let him see his younger sister, so chances like this didn't happen often.

"_**Oh, uh, sure. It's in the auditorium, right?**_" He could recall the poster posted earlier.

"_**Yeah. See ya there!**_"

She hung up and he closed his phone. Standing up, he made his way to the exit doors. I'll find another way yet, he mentally said in mind.

He started to make his way out of the auditorium. The doors were closing as if somebody was leaving. He took a peek at the game. Can't blame whoever just left, he thought. This is pretty boring. He watched as one of the players attempted a spike but hit the net.

* * *

The auditorium was dark when he entered, but the center stage was lit and decorated with a dark, snowy backdrop. He paced the seats to find his sister, and finally found her. She was also seated next to two other people who he recognized as Satoshi and his younger sister. Yuka, that was her name.

"**Hey, Yoshiki!**" his sister called out as he approached.

"**Hey**."

Yoshiki took the empty seat next to Satoshi. He gave Yoshiki a little nudge.

"**Haven't seen you in a while, Kishinuma.**"

He turned his head towards the brown-haired boy that was addressing him. Satoshi Mochida. This was his first friend, right?

"**Haha, yeah. Same to you.**"

They both briefly turned their attention to the stage. The protagonist—Ebenezer Scrooge—was a blue haired boy and glasses. His costume consisted of a black trenchcoat and hat, probably to fit the 19th century era of fashion. The current scene right now was the scene of the third spirit, the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. Yoshiki, however, didn't have much knowledge of the original story.

"**How've you been doing?**" asked Satoshi.

Yoshiki grunted in reply. "**Going to be honest with you: absolute shit.**"

"**Oh, I see.**"

He watched as the protagonist was being shown the consequence of being a "wretched man". The chore woman, portrayed by a short girl with her hair held up in a ponytail, was stealing items and bedroom fixtures from the bedroom along with two other people. This acted as the events of the future of the protagonist's life if he continued this.

"**So, what's this about?**"

Satoshi looked at him for a few seconds then spoke. "**It's about a person who isn't too fond of Christmas. Soon when he went to bed, a ghost of his old business partner appeared and tells him about three spirits that are going to meet him.**"

He paused his explanation when the protagonist was shown the tombstone of his name. The four watched as Scrooge pleaded to change his ways before it was too late.

"**The spirits come as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come. They all show the result of his actions.**"

The scene then changed back to what Yoshiki assumed to be Scrooge's home. He became more joyful and spends the day with his nephew's family.

"**Oh. Interesting, I guess,**" responded Yoshiki.

Soon, the show came to a close and the group of four started to make their way outside the auditorium.

"**How's life at home?**" asked Yoshiki, walking beside Miki.

"**Well, they like, expect me to get good grades and, stuff. It's pretty tough, actually.**"

"**Oh, I see.**"

Miki gave him a smile, but her rident expression didn't hide the fact that her eyes looked sullen and tired as a result from long periods of studying. Yoshiki couldn't help but feel a bit guilty.

Once they were outside, the two started walking towards home in the darkness, the road partially lit up by the lightposts. The other two girls stayed behind at the late party the school was hosting. Yoshiki checked the time on his phone—9:32 PM. The workers should be done around now.

"**So Miki's your little sister. I didn't know until now.**"

Yoshiki looked up. "**Eh, yeah.**'

"**So, what do you like, Mochida?**"

Satoshi thought about it for a moment. "**Well, I guess I like school… and collecting CDs.**"

"**So you like music too?**"

"**Yeah! I'm guessing you do as well?**"

Yoshiki laughed softly. "**Well, I do play guitar.**"

Satoshi furrowed one of his brows. "**Oh, that's cool. Electric?**"

"**No, acoustic. I don't even have the money for a decent electric setup.**"

"**Haha, I see.**"

Yoshiki couldn't really believe it. Satoshi was talking to him without any sort of prejudice. He wasn't like the others since he was the one to approach him, despite all the rumors throughout school. Nonetheless, the time has come for him to believe; the proof is in front of him, so he just needs to accept it.

"**Say, you want go to that party?**" asked Yoshiki.

This was the first time he'd asked someone about socializing

Satoshi smiled. "**Sure!** **I need to do some stuff at home first though. My home's not far anyway, so let's meet at the park.**"

For the first time in years, Yoshiki had a genuine smile on his face. An expression that truly covered the hard look he'd always have in his eyes. It was still dark though, so it wasn't completely visible. Yet, Satoshi was able to see this, and warmly smiled back.

The two eventually reached Yoshiki's apartment. Satoshi gave him his phone number and email and they both exchanged. He gave him a quick wave and Yoshiki waved back before walking into his apartment.

He noticed his landlord walking out from his suite.

"**Oh, hello Kishinuma. The guys just finished up fixing the air systems, ventilation, heating, air conditioning and all that.**"

Yoshiki nodded. "**Thanks. It really was getting kinda cold in there.**"

"**Heh, yeah. Sorry for the inconvenience. The whole building had problems with it.**" He leaned in closer to whisper into Yoshiki's ear. "**We had to use some forbidden materials since the money was too much…**"

Yoshiki nodded. "**It's not much of an inconvenience.**"

After the landlord left, he walked into his apartment noticing significant change in the air. It felt more warm and cleaner than before. He washed up and put on a new set of clothes. He hasn't changed them since yesterday.

After several minutes, Yoshiki started to exit his apartment. He called Satoshi who said he was coming to the park right now. Yoshiki understood and made his way over there as well, hoping to get the experience of having a friend that cares.

* * *

"**There you are!**" called Satoshi.

Yoshiki noticed Satoshi sitting on a bench in the park, lit up by a lone lamplight like a beacon in the darkness. Dressed in a white and blue plaid shirt and simple blue jeans, he stood up to walk over to Yoshiki.

"**So, should we go?**"

They both walked together in the darkness of the park. After a few crosswalks and walking some distance, they arrived at the gates of the school. Soon, they entered the building and changed their shoes. They walked over to party in the junior cafeteria. There was also a separate one in the senior cafeteria, but they decided it would be best to check up on their sisters.

"**There you are big brother!**"

Yuka ran over to embrace Satoshi as they entered, Miki hanging back behind. She caught sight of Yoshiki and gave him a small wave, which he returned. Yuka finished her hug and both Satoshi and Yoshiki were checking the room, noticing the lack of people. Christmas decorations were hung all over the room, with a Christmas tree in the middle complete with star and all. There was also a chalkboard sign saying a special Christmas dinner, but the place looked clean already.

"**Where'd everyone go?**" asked Satoshi.

Miki looked around as well. "**This place was filled with people before the play. I guess it's getting late.**"

They both nodded, and suddenly Satoshi was getting dragged away by Yuka.

"**Argh! Well… see you around, I guess,**" said Satoshi hurriedly, taken aback by his sister's sudden action.

Yoshiki nodded. He didn't mind, since he appreciated the time to be alone with Miki anyway. He hasn't seen her that much since their parents pretty much forbidden them from seeing each other. They both sat down at a nearby bench.

"**I bet our parents would kill me if they found out we are talking to each other here**," said Yoshiki, still lingering on that thought.

"**I guess. They're not too fond of you.**"

She looked down for bit before looking up into his eyes. "**But, I know you. You might be a bad boy as some people say but… you're responsible. Not many people could stay in school and keep up with a part-time job.**"

Yoshiki gave out a small chuckle. "**Well, I do get tired in class at times.**"

She also gave out a laugh as well. "**Haha! Yeah, it's stressful I'm guessing. Though, I wish things would go better with family…**"

'**...but they never once show their faces around here. Wonder if they'd be embarrassed.**' Tsubota's words were coming back at him at the mention of family. The thought of Tsubota also reminded him about his break-in.

"**What do they feel about me anyway?**"

Miki thought about it for a while. "**Sometimes, dad would say that you were a mistake. It's too late for that now, I suppose.**"

They both sat together in silence for a while. Yoshiki's head was revolving around thought about family at this point. After a short while, Satoshi came back.

"**Sorry about that… she wanted me to finish up some of the food.**"

Satoshi was carrying a foam plate of leftover Christmas cake in his right hand, his left hand carrying a fork. "**Here, I saved some of it for you, if you don't mind.**"

Yoshiki took the plate and the fork from Satoshi's hands and began to finish the cake. He didn't eat dinner yet, so he was pretty hungry.

"**Mmhmm. Well, I'll leave you two then. Later, Yoshiki. Mochida-kun.**"

The two guys both were sitting together on a bench, watching their sisters. Yoshiki finished the cake and put the empty plate on the table.

"**Shame you weren't here for the party. Where were you anyway?**"

"**Oh, uh…**" He thought of a quick excuse. "**I was at home.**"

"**Right… since you don't usually go out.**"

Satoshi sighed. People were starting to leave, but slowly. The room was getting quieter, but it's not like it was really noisy before anyway.

"**What is it about school you don't like, anyway?**"

Yoshiki ran his hand through his hair. "**I guess the people and the things to do. I mean, there's not much to do here.**"

"**Everybody is here for a reason. I mean, why'd you go into high school if you hate school then?**"

"**Well, I don't really know why I'm here.**" Yoshiki looked out the window.

Satoshi lightly patted him on the back. "**Don't worry. You'll find out, eventually.**"

Yoshiki started to lie down on his back on the bench.

"**Guitar is all I really do, and I find it pointless sometimes.**"

"**Oh, c'mon. Guitar isn't meaningless.**"

Yoshiki put both hands on his face to cover it. "**Yeah, but I lost all my motivation to play it recently.**"

Satoshi sighed and looked around. The two girls seemed to be enjoying themselves. He smiled for a moment.

"**What if your sister decided to join you?**"

"**Huh? What do you mean?**"

"**Like, when she comes into high school, if she'll leave your parents as well. If your only interest is guitar, then why don't you work on it more?**"

Yoshiki was giving out some murmurs as he thought about it.

"**Maybe you can get a decent job being a musician or cheer her up when she's down. Music is a powerful thing, you know?**"

Yoshiki stood up from lying down.

"**When does music come into class rotation?**"

"**Should be after the winter break, until the end of the year.**"

Yoshiki gave a quick nod. He never conversed to his friends about his hobby before. Now, he had reason to support his hobby once more. Considering the possibility that Miki might move with him, he could at least be started with a possible job. Finally, he smiled once more.

"**Yeah. Thanks for the advice.**"

"**No problem.**"

The two girls were still having fun, happy and cheerful. The two guys decided to head over to the senior party. The two kitchens were connected so it wasn't a far walk.

As they were on their way, they caught sight of two people who Yoshiki recognized both from the play. The girl with the ponytail and the blue- haired guy with glasses.

"**Good job with the play!**" called out Satoshi.

"**Thanks! It was really smooth, right Shige-nii?**" said the girl.

"**Yeah, I suppose. I felt like I messed a line or two. Ah, well.**"

He turned his attention towards the blonde. "**Who's this?**"

"**Kishinuma Yoshiki. He's a good friend of mine.**"

Yoshiki felt a feeling of warmness in Satoshi's voice.

"**I see. Pleased to meet you. I'm Morishige Sakutaro.**" He gave a small bow.

"**And I'm Suzumoto Mayu!**" She bowed as well.

Yoshiki gratefully returned the gestures, glad that he's making friends.

"**Oh, I heard rumors about you,**" mentioned Mayu, "**but you don't really seem that bad, ya know?**"

"**Oh? Thanks, I guess,**" said Yoshiki.

"**Well, we should be going now.**" He checked his phone for the time.

"**Yeah. Bye, Mochida-kun and Kishinuma-kun!**"

The two guys waved good-bye and continued towards the cafeteria.

Once they entered, the room was dark. The decorations still remained, though. Through the kitchen, the lights were on in both the kitchen and the junior cafeteria.

"**Mochida-kun! And Kishinuma-kun too?**"

They both turned around to meet the blue-haired Ayumi.

"**I can lock you both in and start a ritual of sealing, you know,**" she teased.

She was starting to pull one of her candles out. Satoshi was shaking at this and Ayumi giggled.

"**Can't we just escape through the kitchen?**" asked Yoshiki, yawning after.

Ayumi took a peek and noticed her expression turning into frustration afterwards as Satoshi calmed down from the observation.

"**Grr, if only you weren't here...**"

She soon smiled mischievously, clearly thinking of other things.

Does Ayumi like Satoshi? From the looks of it, her eye contact with him has been abnormal around him. Yoshiki couldn't be too early on the call-out, though.

The three soon exited the senior's cafeteria and Ayumi locked it. Then they walked over to the other cafeteria.

"**Well, I need to go in and make sure the lights are off and people are out. You can go home without me; I still have things to do.**"

Satoshi nodded. "**Ok. Good-night, Shinozaki.**"

"**Night, Mochida-kun. Kishinuma-kun.**"

She soon made her way in the room and announced to the people still left inside. They soon started to exit the cafeteria, Yuka and Miki in the crowd.

The group of four started to walk home. The two girls were bonding together nicely, having those girl talk moments. Yoshiki began to embrace the idea of having friends and becoming accepted.

"**Shinozaki is pretty creepy,**" said Yoshiki.

"**Yeah... but I wasn't scared or anything...**"

They finally reached Yoshiki's apartment. Yoshiki checked his phone—10:23 PM.

"**Older than I thought,**" commented Miki

"**Well, it was nice being together, Kishinuma. Let's hang-out more sometime, ok?**"

Yoshiki nodded, and had one last thing to say.

"**Yeah, but just call me Yoshiki from now.**"

Satoshi was a little surprised but soon understood and nodded as well.

"**Then call me Satoshi.**"

They all smiled for this moment. Especially Miki, who was happy for him, knowing his recent hardships. She ran up to hug him.

"**Good job, oni-chan,**" she whispered into his ear.

Yoshiki then made his way into the apartment. He was happy for progress from tonight, and looked forward to the next time with Satoshi.

Once he was inside, he changed into simple pajamas and went into the washroom to brush his teeth and take a shower. After he was finished, he looked over at his kitchen. He wasn't that hungry anymore, even though cake was all he ate for 'dinner'. He'd still go for something to eat right now. Sighing, he looked in his fridge. There wasn't much left.

He decided it would be best to just get a drink of water. It was nice hanging out with Satoshi. He's not a bad guy. He didn't act like he believed the rumors. Plus, he introduced him to some other people who didn't really believe them as well. In fact, he'd consider him a best friend, even though they only met twice. But, he believed there would be more times they would meet.

He turned out the lights in the main room and went into his bedroom. He looked at his guitar perched on a guitar stand. This guitar was what his parents bought. Still, he still plays it sometime. Is this what people would say is the fact that he still loves them deep down in his heart? Probably. He sighed and decided to play it the next day. His eyes also went over his schoolwork. There was still quite a bit to do still, so that's on his agenda for tomorrow as well.

* * *

Ayumi made her way out the front gate of Kisaragi. The two were gone already, she thought. Damnit Yoshiki, that was the perfect chance.

She walked home alone in the dark. It was scary enough walking home alone, but she was also a girl. Not a very intimidating one either. She picked up the pace at these thoughts.

Once she reached home, she went over to her room and looked at the pile of schoolwork. All of that was something she was going to work on for these last few days. It was tiring to do it now, so she began to turn off the lights and go to bed.

She digged her head into her pillow. Today was a busy day, especially since it was Christmas. She was at the senior party, but she hadn't watched the play when it started. That was fine for her though, since the student council president needed a favor from her, anyway.

She didn't do much today to enjoy herself, but it still was something. After all, Christmas wasn't a national holiday in Japan, so she was glad the school was able to make a party in the first place. She removed her head from the pillow and lied down on her back naturally against the springy mattress. She then closed her eyes, hoping to erase the thoughts and fall asleep.

The thought of Yoshiki was still on her mind. He was with Satoshi today, so what does that mean? Is he finally understanding how to stay in school and make friends? She scratched her head at an oncoming itch. It probably didn't mean much for Yoshiki. Well, maybe.

Ayumi could recall the time in junior high where Yoshiki would be all alone during lunch and break hours. He didn't join any clubs either. She remembered the way he looked when he was standing outside in the courtyard, sitting on the benches. She never found the courage to approach him, but now high school came. She approached him from there.

She yawned for a moment before turning over to lie on her right side. School was always a pain, she thought as she looked at the papers in the dark. He had to get a part-time job to pay for his own apartment. That's something that proves he's responsible for his actions that caused him to be kicked out. He's not a very bad guy.

There was still one thought that remained in her mind. She could remember that phone ringing, and the familiar voice of Yoshiki. She left the gym after that, scared that he'd notice. On her way out, she noticed the way he looked at the gym teacher. What _did_ Yoshiki want with Tsubota?


	8. Chapter 8

Ayumi was seated at her desk in the morning sun that was seeping through the window. She was working on the pile of schoolwork that she decided to do from the previous day. Scratching her head, she continued to solve the math equations that were in front of her on the paper.

She started to daydream at the thought of Satoshi. Then it moved on to Yoshiki. His attitude changed ever since she had talked with him. Kindness is a strange thought to dwell on. Has he ever given anyone his kindness?

Suddenly, her trance broke as her phone suddenly beeped, indicating a new message. She went over to pick it up.

"_**me, naomi and mochi are going to head to the train station for the mall. you wanna come?**_"

She glanced over at her school work, still on the table. There was still some more to go. But the mention of Satoshi instantly lit her eyes up.

Ayumi closed her phone and put it down on her desk. She then changed into a white hoodie and blue jeans and put her phone in her pocket. She turned off the lights in her room and started to walk towards the front door.

"**I'm going to the mall downtown with some of my friends!**" she blurted as she was exiting the door.

Her father hollered back, seated in the living room reading a newspaper. "**Ok, then.**"

She closed the door and headed out, walking out of the front gate. She continued to walk while being basked by a rare winter sun, although it was still pretty cold. She was on her way to the Okusawa train station. The mall in the downtown area, which can reached using the train station.

The road she walked on seemed familiar. She suddenly remembered it as the road that Yoshiki both uses to go home and to go to school. That is, if he decides to go to school. He was a strange guy at times.

She caught sight of the crosswalk in the distance, the train station not too far away. She heard sound coming from an open window from an apartment building overlooking the crosswalk. Guitar music. It sounded pretty dark. She didn't think much of it, and waited for the traffic lights to change. Once it did, she crossed.

When she crossed, the playing stopped abruptly. She looked at the open window, but she didn't get a clear view of who was inside. Still, she sighed and brushed the encounter off, making her way up the other road towards the station.

Once she reached the station and bought a ticket, she caught sight of Naomi, Seiko and Satoshi, sitting a station bench. They all saw her as well and called her over. She walked over and sat down beside Naomi.

Naomi was especially happy.

"**So you made it! That's good.**"

Now it was a matter of waiting for the train. Ayumi peered over at the railway tracks, thinking about the journey. They were headed for downtown Fujisawa, as Tenjin didn't have any malls. They did have some shopping centers, but they're not as major as the mall they were headed to. She yawned hard as she hasn't been getting that much rest. She could fall asleep at any moment.

She checked the time on her phone—11:37 AM. Christmas isn't a national holiday in Japan, so at this time would normally be working hours. Their winter break—December 25 - January 5—meant that they wouldn't be in school, which also meant that some schools around would probably be out as well. So, the only people they'd expect to really see at the mall are workers and other students.

"**Hey, Shinozaki. You're kinda spacing out**," pointed out Naomi.

Ayumi blinked. "**Oh. Sorry. I was just thinking about the people we'll see at the mall.**"

"**Oh, yeah.**"

She went back to her _train_ of thought. There are always stories of 'school rivalry' and other ridiculous stuff like. The only school she could think of that is nearby is Byukaden, and she doesn't know anyone from there.

Suddenly, the sound of a train's engine pierced through the station as if announcing its arrival. The sound of the churning wheels against the tracks slowed down to a halt as the train entered the station. The group of four stood up and went over to an open door. Some passengers started to step out and they waited.

Once all the departing passengers were finished, they entered the train. Although there was _plenty_ of space in the train car they entered, they all sat very close together, due to Seiko's willingness to do so. Satoshi was sitting between Naomi and Ayumi with Seiko next to Naomi. Feels kinda warm, thought Ayumi, thinking about Satoshi on her right.

The train eventually closed its doors and started moving. Ayumi sighed as the train rocked them abruptly back and forth. The speed eventually picked up over time.

She took a good look around. There wasn't anybody in this train car besides the other three. Were they really alone in this train car? She wanted to check the windows that looked into the neighbouring cars, but she didn't really want to stand up.

With Satoshi being seated so close to Ayumi, she felt her heart beating. She looked around the bleak train cab as a method of distraction. She considered browsing her phone but was afraid he'd peek over. _So warm..._

_"_**Uh... hey... AAH!**"

All of her attempts at distraction suddenly failed when Naomi's scream filled the car. Satoshi began pushing against Ayumi, taking her by surprise. She looked over at him, his face with embarrassment written all over. Her heart was beating against her rib cage now, and being this close she probably would expect to hear his as well.

"**Uhh, you guys?**"

Ayumi couldn't help but notice how cute Satoshi looked when he was flustered.

The real culprit? She looked at Naomi, who also had a strange look on her face. She was as stunned as Satoshi was, and all red too. Naomi tried to stand up but Seiko instantly held her down.

Seiko. Ayumi took a look at Seiko's face. It was evil. Pure evil. Her mouth was snarled into an evil sneer. There was a lust for a reaction in her determined eyes, but she wasn't getting any. She noticed Ayumi looking at her and winked.

Seiko's not stupid. She'd know by now that Ayumi likes him. The way she looked at him, the way she acted around him. And Ayumi _really does_ like him.

She couldn't control herself and unconsciously pushed closer into Satoshi, generating a sense of tension in the air. His face was close to exploding; in fact, he himself was close to exploding. He's never been this shocked in his life.

"...**Mochida,**" she murmured.

He tried to stand up but Ayumi kept him down with both of her arms. He'd probably think she was crazy, letting him stay wedged between two girls. This was a pretty weird scene. This was the perfect setup for a typical harem, she thought. She didn't want to let him go.

Her hand eventually... went down on to his legs. She could feel her face ready to melt. Inch by inch, her hand started to move closer... and closer. Like a crane game ready to grab. Then, she mentally pressed the grab button.

"**Woah there, Shinozaki!**"

She looked at the speaker. She looked right into Seiko's eyes. It wasn't evil anymore. Rather, it had an expression of surprise.

Ayumi noticed her hand was grabbing Seiko's hand on her lap, and that she was incredibly close to her. Ayumi immediately let go and jerked back.

"**Oh, I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!**"

She hadn't realized it was a dream until now. A harem isn't going to happen, she thought. It's just stupid...

Seiko soon turned back into her normal self after the apology, albeit a bit more excited. She winked and moved closer into her ear and spoke in a soft, seductive tone.

"**Did I hear you say in your sleep... **_**Mochida?**_**"**

_Shit_. That was all Ayumi needed to hear. Confirmations about confessing her crush to someone who supported someone else who has the same crush, so it seemed. At least it wasn't... him. That wouldn't have ended well.

"**Seiko...? What're you two talking about over there?**"

"**Nothing you need to worry about, Naooomi.**"

Seiko went back to her usual sitting position, pouting at Naomi. Ayumi took a look at the other two, who looked far calmer than before. It was just a dream. Nothing more.

The automated voice soon came over the loudspeaker, announcing the arrival to downtown Fujishima. The train stopped at the station platform and the four got off. They started to make their way to the mall, where they intended to go to.

* * *

Once they were inside the mall, they checked the big clock that was placed in front of each entrance. The time was 11:55 AM.

"**Did you guys have lunch yet?**" asked Naomi.

Ayumi heard her stomach growl at the mention of lunch.

"**No. I'm pretty hungry.**"

"**Me too!**" chimed Seiko.

"**Yeah, same here,**" added Satoshi.

Naomi smiled. "**Why don't we stop by the food court?**"

Seiko beamed a smile. "**Sounds good.**"

They walked into the food court and eyed the various selections of vendors and restaurants. Tables were spread out throughout the centre of the court.

Ayumi went over to buy some nigiri sushi (shrimp) and found a table to sit. She was soon joined by Naomi and Seiko.

Naomi looked at what Seiko was going to eat. Her face went a little sour.

"**KFC? Really?**"

"**Yah! What are you gonna do?**"

Naomi sighed in defeat and put her take-out box and opened up, revealing some beef noodle pho.

Satoshi arrived carrying a wrapped package that took on the shape of a burger. They all soon started to eat their lunches, the tables around them getting filled up by other teenagers with the occasional adult couple showing up.

"**There's so many high school and junior high students here,**" pointed out Naomi.

Ayumi nodded and waited until she finished digesting before speaking. "**Well, it's expected during a winter break.**"

The noise level increased as the plaza became filled with various conversations of students from around the city. This was one of the major malls in the region, so it's natural for all of these students to show up.

Once they finished eating their meals, they all started to clean up. Seiko, however, wasn't done eating.

"**I'm going to get some dessert. Not full enough.**"

She stood up and walked towards to the Baskin-Robbins ice cream shop in the food court. The three others remained seated, until Ayumi spoke.

"**I think I'm going to go with Seiko as well.**"

"**Ok then,**" said Satoshi, a bit nervous. "**We'll wait for you here… I guess.**"

Right. She was going to leave the two lovebirds alone. Well, it can't be helped anyway. Ayumi wasn't full, so she decided some junk food would be best to fill up her stomach that still desires for more. She stood up from her chair and walked over to where Seiko was, waiting in line.

"**You're going to get ice cream too?**"

"**Yeah.**"

They waited in line, waiting as the woman with dark blue grayish hair in front of them ordered ice cream on a cone. Once she was finished, she walked out of line, ice cream cone in hand. She looked at the both of them for a moment before walking away.

Seiko went up to order her's first, and then came Ayumi. Seiko decided on a chocolate ice cream sundae while Ayumi decided to get a vanilla ice cream cone, similar to the other person earlier.

Once they were done ordering and received their dessert, they started to walk back together to the table. Ayumi started to lick her ice cream.

"**So, Shinozaki,**" she whispered, "**I'm going to go shopping with Naomi after this… so you and Mochi can… you know.**"

Ayumi was taken a bit off-guard and paused licking.

"**Uh… what do you mean?**"

Seiko giggled and put a spoonful of ice cream in her mouth.

"**I wanna see Naomi jealous… she's cute when she's like that.**"

She licked her lips after saying those words, her mouth curling like a cat's.

Ayumi had no reason to question her motives. She's just glad that Seiko's giving her a chance to do so.

"**Thanks… I guess.**"

They soon reached their table and the other two stood up. They soon walked out of the food court until they reached a Forever 21 store.

"**Agh… Seiko!**"

"**Ok guys! We're going to go shopping here. Have fun!**"

Seiko winked at Ayumi before she dragged Naomi into the store with her, leaving her alone with Satoshi. She looked at him slowly, and he was equally confused. But, he soon came back to her senses.

"**I t-think I'm going to go to the store over there,**" said Ayumi.

"**Mmm. Then I'm going to go to the CD store there. See ya in a bit.**"

"**Yeah. I guess.**"

* * *

Ayumi started to walk away faster until she was in the store that she pointed earlier. This store had a wide variety of miscellaneous and electronic items including radios, phones, an EMF detector and tablets. She noticed an iPod touch was also on the shelves. It was released back in September, not too long ago. Also released back in July was a new PSP model, the PSP 2000. Still, she'd still want a PSP more than anything else in this store. She eventually found one and laid her eyes on it. Too bad her parents weren't too keen on buying it.

Suddenly, she felt an unnatural presence within the store. Clutching her head, she could feel a throbbing against her skull as an unbearable headache started to pound against her. Her ears started ringing unbearably. She winced as she made her way to where she found the EMF detector and turned it on. The signal was flat at first but then started to violently spike, indicating a presence around her.

She retreated from the store, shocked and hyperventilating. Where the hell is Satoshi!?

She found the store which she recognized as the store the he entered earlier. She ran in without another thought to look for him.

"**Mochida-kun!**"

Satoshi turned to face Ayumi, who ran into him and began hugging him, burying her face into him. Her arms were wrapped around his waist. This wasn't really like her, so he was startled, almost dropping the CDs in his hand. His arms were outstretched to the side.

"**Huh?! W-what's wrong?**"

"**T-t-there was a sp—**"

_Spirit. _She paused, taking a look at the words she was about to say. She can't scare him off like that... and she didn't want to ruin the day either. She thought of another solution...

"**A strange movie and, uhm, it scared me... when I looked at the poster.**"

"**Strange movie, huh...**"

He took a moment to think with Ayumi still burrowed in his chest. His arms started to relax.

"**Why don't we watch it together? If it's that bothersome...**"

She slowly took her head back, although her arms were still wrapped.

"**Why?**"

**"You need to overcome your fears, Shinozaki. You're scared of it, right?**"

Ayumi finally let go of him and nodded as he walked up to the counter to purchase his CD pack. He then carried a bag as they walked over to the cinema in the mall.

Was this was Seiko mentioned that would get Naomi jealous? To think that she's doing this for her own enjoyment...

Soon, they stopped in front of a movie poster. _Ashes of the Immolation_. Satoshi flinched a bit.

"**Wow... this is actually pretty scary looking.**"

Ayumi held on to his arm, also noticing that it was pretty intimidating. A burning pyre was shown, with the victim's face as a bloody skull. Satoshi recovered and simply just smiled.

"**Don't worry. I'm here.**"

He bought tickets for both of them and they headed inside the theatre, turning their phones to vibrate. Even though she lied about the movie thing, it was still nice to watch a movie together. It's almost like a _date..._

A date. A date to get Naomi jealous... is this Seiko's plan?

The theatre started to dim lights as the film started. The projector started casting a clear image on the screen.

The scene panned into a scene from the era of the witch hunts. The Inquisition was interrogating the alleged in the court. The convicted was soon due for execution as they found him guilty, even though there was hardly enough proof.

It then jump-cuts to a man in the crowd during the execution. He went home early and started thinking. He looked around and lay eyes on a wall. He kept at it until he started moving towards it.

He ripped out the compartment, revealing a book. There was some Japanese dubbed dialogue, saying that the character was looking at the _Book of Shadows_.

Ayumi looked over at Satoshi, who was sleeping. The Book of Shadows, huh…

She sighed, knowing the Satoshi was unconscious. An opportunity wasted. She thought the movie looked scary too, but now it just seems like a history lession.

The movie eventually droned on for an hour or so before the credits rolled. Satoshi was awake to see the ending and they both started to make their way out.

Satoshi yawned. "**That wasn't as scary as I thought it would be.**"

"**Mmh.**"

They were outside of the theatre now, and started to walk by a stacker machine, similar to the one in the arcade. Ayumi grabbed his hand and pointed towards it. At this, he sighed.

"**Ok, then...**"

Ayumi noticed a PlayStation Portable was along the prizes of the major prize pool. If he could get there, she would be so happy.

"**Try to get a major one!**"

Satoshi put down his bag of CDs and put in a coin and attempted. He soon failed at the second to last row from the minor prize.

"**But... Mochida-kun**!"

"**I'll get there..."**

Many attempts past, and the sixth attempt soon came. At this point, Satoshi ran out of coins. Ayumi decided to offer him one, chanting small mantra before giving it.

He inserted and began playing. Soon, he reached the minor prize line. But, he kept going. Four more lines. These were probably rigged, but he can do it.

The first row was done. He waited and timed the next one. He pushed the button. Another row. Wait. Push. And another. The last row, in fact. He took a deep breath while Ayumi had her fists clenched, sweating from the pure pressure. He could either win or lose right now.

_Tap._

It was done. The line of the top flashed. A major prize was available for choosing. Ayumi was shaking with pure joy.

"**Well, you can choose now. It was your coin after all.**"

The keg of happiness in her exploded as she pounced on him, hugging him tightly.

"**Thank you, Mochida-kun!**"

Satoshi scratched his head, not knowing what to do. Ayumi soon got off and selected the PSP.

The device box soon fell into the prize slot. She took it and hugged the box tightly. This was his gift. From Satoshi. That guy...

He picked up the bag and they started to walk out of the cinema, smiles on their faces. Satoshi decided to call one of the two, and soon got an answer from Seiko. She said that they were in a CD shop before the call cut off.

They soon went back to the CD store he was at earlier and found Seiko walking out with Naomi.

"**But I'm sure that he would be here! He likes these things, right.**"

"**Quit your babbling, Naomi! They're right there.**"

Naomi looked up at the two. Her eyes moved towards the PSP box in Ayumi's hands.

"**Hey, Shinozaki... where'd you get that?**"

"**Oh, this?**" She started to hold up the box. "**Mochida-kun got it for me.**"

Satoshi scratched his head. "**Well, uh... we were on our way out after a movie when we came across a stacker machine.**"

Naomi's face looked a bit discomforted, considering that she didn't get anything when Satoshi played back in November. Seiko started winking at Ayumi, indicating her jealous plan is succeeding. She didn't know why she was letting someone else suffer.

Personal feelings are strange. Ayumi kept staring at Naomi, who was almost furious. It wasn't something that she should've done. But, a chance like this comes once in a lifetime.

* * *

Yoshiki noticed as the customer stormed out of the shop, furious about the guitar he wanted. It was already sold by a previous sales associate, but Yoshiki had promised a reservation. Guess the messages never go around.

He thought about ditching this shop job and going to a more conventional one. Maybe one that was more all around for music. This one just had a lot of problems with it, including quality issues.

The thought soon turned into a solid decision as he stepped out, resigning. He checked his phone time—3:44 PM. He started to walk around back to his home to search on his laptop for job openings.

A new one was available nearby. He left his apartment and made his way over, anticipating a new position. He soon entered the music shop—Perfect Sound. The new position was an instrument inspector. This would give him more diversity and insight on other instruments, even though it was more work than standing. It also had a better wage than his last job.

The blonde sighed as he started making his rounds around the shelves, periodically consulting his manual on how to test a certain set of instruments. There was a toolkit belt on him that had wrenches, tuners, guitar picks, keys, and other things. If he had to tighten up to straighten a warped guitar neck or oil an instrument part, the kit would prove to be very useful.

He was on shift until 6:30, in which he has made a decent amount for his first day. He started to make his way back home in his apartment in the cloudy, winter evening. He went to his room to lie on the bed for a bit. Changing jobs is tiring. Everything is tiring.

His guitar was resting against the bed frame. He had played it earlier today before heading off to his job. The inspiration from Satoshi gave him reason to start practicing again. Maybe someday he'll afford an electric rig, amplifier and all.

Noises of passing conversations could be heard from the open window. He started to go over to close it when he suddenly remembered. When he was playing this morning...

The figure of Ayumi and others were outside, walking towards the apartment building. Except in the morning, he only saw her alone going. He swore he saw that she noticed him in the window, but if she did she didn't have much of an expression.

He hid out of sight from the window by lying down on his bed. When the voices of their conversation started to get closer.

"**...You're stopping here, Mochida-kun?**" he heard a voice say. It was Ayumi's voice.

The next voice that came was the one he'd been expecting—Mochida's.

"**Mmm. Yeah. I have something to do here.**"

"**Oh, ok. See you later, then.**"

A voice he didn't recognize same up at the last second.

"**Bye, Satoshi!**"

After a while, there was silence. Then, he heard the door to the apartment outside open. He was coming in.

Yoshiki stood up from his bed and went to his door. He opened it and stepped outside, waiting for Satoshi. It wasn't long until his figure appeared at the other end of the hallway.

"**Oh. Hey, Yoshiki. You've been expecting me?**"

Yoshiki scratched his head. "**I kinda, overheard you guys from up here.**"

"**Oh… that's fine.**"

Yoshiki offered for him to come into his suite and he accepted. They both walked in and Yoshiki closed the door behind them. They then went over to sit on the couch. Satoshi looked around, as if he were inspecting it.

"**For a part-time job, this isn't a bad place.**"

Yoshiki gave a slow nod. He reached over to the remote to turn on the TV to wave off the awkwardness in the air. They both sat in silence for a while.

Yoshiki started coughing rather violently, which caught Satoshi's attention.

"**You ok?**"

"**Yeah, yeah, I'm fine. Just another one of my coughing fits.**"

The cough attacks have been happening for a while. He was considering checking with a doctor, but he doesn't really have the time for that.

"**So, Satoshi, what did you want to talk about?**"

"**I wanted to talk about… next year.**"

Yoshiki's face looked skeptical. "**Next year?**"

"**Yeah. I have a plan for the classes next year.**"

Yoshiki turned off the TV with the remote and set it down on the table.

"**Alright, I'm listening.**"

Satoshi looked around to see if the windows were closed and the doors were locked.

"**Are you sure we're not being eavesdropped here?**"

Yoshiki rubbed his eyes. "**Well… not like it ever happens. I don't think so.**"

"**Ok, ok… You know how the classes for next year work?**"

Classes for next year? What is he planning?

"**Not really.**"

"**Ok, so what I found out is that they start putting people into their new classes at the start of the New Year.**"

Where is he going with this… it sounds promising but there's always a catch. _Always_.

"**So… what is it that you want to do?**"

Satoshi gave a small smile. "**I want you to make a homeroom… with all of us.**"

"**And how do you expect me to do that?**"

He had a bad feeling about all of this. It was all confirmed in Satoshi's next words.

"**...I guess you need to break into the school at night.** **The teachers will probably go against it.**"

Yoshiki's face turned a little pale at the thought of that. His thoughts reversed back to the time a few weeks ago on the 14th. He didn't want to do it again, since he didn't know what would happen if someone hadn't saved him from his death. What did fate have in store for him? The feeling of unusual apprehension came over him.

"**Oh… ok.**"

"**You think you can do that?**"

"**Yeah… I guess.**"

The school was fairly easy to walk into anyway. He'd done it before. Although the place was the size of a behemoth—it was huge as all hell. He'd have to guess the files and other stuff for classes are in the main office area or the staff room.

Satoshi handed him a piece of paper. It had the names of people, and he recognized some of them. _Ayumi Shinozaki… Mayu Suzumoto…_Yeah, that girl from the drama club. He remembered seeing her yesterday along with Sakutaro Morishige, who he also saw yesterday with her.

"**All of these people… we all get along with each other.**" Satoshi gave a small chuckle. "**Mostly, anyway.**"

Satoshi stood up from the couch.

"**Get into the school around New Years. That's when all the teachers would be out for their little party.**"

Yoshiki nodded and put the paper down on the living room table. Satoshi put on his shoes by the door and opened it.

"**See you around, Yoshiki.**"

"**Yeah.**"

The door shut and Yoshiki walked back to his room, carrying the paper. Was this something he had to do? Probably. These people were his _only_ friends, after all. At least the majority of the people. He had the feeling that Satoshi was doing this for his sake, knowing his situation with school and his reputation of a delinquent.

_Choices._ Does he or doesn't he? This is all a question of morality. It's when the right and wrong collide. Which way will he go? The value of friendship is also strong. What would he do for the people he would consider his only friends. And the one that he loved.

He knew he had a choice. He knew the choice he went with was the wrong way. It would be the second time he'd break into the school. There was a feeling that it wouldn't be as easy as the first time around. He considered asking people for help, but that might be too suspicious.

_Trust._ Who is there to trust in this place? If he didn't consider asking his friends because it would be too suspicious, would that mean he didn't trust them at all? No. It didn't. It was a matter of trust. Who would he trust anyway? Ayumi? Satoshi? Well, he was the contractor after all.

He lied down on his bed in the all too familiar surroundings of his room. The guitar in the corner. The desk of which he worked on. The bed that he'd lay down on many times. The window which he'd looked out in despair.

Yoshiki never questioned the thought of being lonely that much. It wouldn't be before since he didn't know what happiness meant, really. But… now that he knew what happiness meant, he knew what loneliness meant. He also knew what unhappiness meant, so now he understands happiness. Ignorance isn't really a bad thing. The more you know, the more problems you'll have.

He'd never been depressed before. Mostly because he had no reason to be since his feelings weren't affected by the people around him before due to his isolated behavior. Was he a socially conscious person? He never really paid attention to how he acted around others or in class.

If there really was a god up there, was this was he had in store for him? It would seem like a really displeasing plan, honestly. But, this was all he had to do. He had to get into the school around New Years. The thought of that… thing crossed his mind once again, but he discarded it. That wasn't going to stop him. Even if it was going to kill him, there are more horrible ways to die.

At this point, he didn't feel sorrow. He had no reason to do so. Instead, the feeling of a newfound courage welled up inside of him. This was for his friends. This was for Satoshi, a way of payback for all he has done to help him with his former non-existent social life. It was the wrong thing to do, and it was against the law to be trespassing. But, it was the right thing to do.

* * *

Ayumi entered her house and looked at the clock on the wall—7:46 PM. She took off her shoes and walk to her room. She shut the door and sat down at her desk, looking at the remaining piles of school work awaiting completion.

She put down the PSP packaging on her table and looked at it. Even though her birthday was in September, she got a late Christmas present from Satoshi. That thought seemed to warm her up a little in the atmosphere of winter.

She started to pick up her lead pencil and began to finish the math equations that she left unfinished. That was when she noticed another thing on her table. It was an EMF detector, similar to the one she used today. This was a Christmas present from Hinoe.

Her mind revved back to that store. To that headache. It was a peculiar feeling at that moment. It felt as if a spirit was trying to possess her. But, that's crazy, right?

Crazy. That seems like the word most people would use if she tried to explain a situation like that. She knows she's not crazy, it wasn't her imagination. It wasn't a mental illness. It wasn't anything like that. This is reality, not some fantasy. It wasn't like that.

She put down the pencil and clutched her head at the thoughts. It was stressful to think of those things, and it was starting to get to her. But, her sister's job seemed pretty legitimate. No, she couldn't think of herself as crazy. Maybe crazy to get the attention of Satoshi and make Naomi jealous, but she's not that crazy.

It took a while, but soon she was back to sitting up, picking up the pencil and finishing her homework. She wasn't going to let thoughts like that get to her. Demoralizing, but understandable.

Time passed by as she started to finish her homework for the break. She aimed to finished before New Year's came so that she could enjoy her time out. Probably might go for a New Year's party somewhere or something.

When she was finished everything, she checked the clock in her room. 8:47 PM. It was turning dark outside. She went out of her room and went downstairs to the kitchen to get a glass of water. When she was finished, she went back to her room to try the PSP out.

She sat down and started to open up the packaging with excitement and take the device out, disregarding the manuals or anything else. She also took out a USB cable, an AC adapter for charging and a battery pack. She eventually read the manual to find out how to put the battery in and started it up.

She set the date and time and the other first-time setup options and made it to the main screen. She browsed the options, but there weren't any games on it. That was the catch. She needed games.

Sighing in disappointment, she powered it off and put it back on the table. Today was a long day. She felt like taking a nap. Especially after that little dream she had on the train today…

"**Hey, Ayumi.**"

She noticed Hinoe at her door addressing her. Hinoe took a look around and noticed her PSP.

"**Where'd you get that?**"

"**Today… in the mall. A friend got it for me.**"

"**I see… Well, c'mon, dinner's ready.**"

Ayumi stood up from her chair and went over to walk out with Hinoe to the kitchen This was a friend's gift, alright.

It was around 9:30 PM when she finished dinner. Deciding to go buy some games for her PSP, she grabbed her wallet and phone and headed out the door.

"**I'm going to the CD shop.**"

She closed the door and headed out. The closest one around was in that little shopping centre here. She cut through an alley and a few blocks to reach it.

Entering the centre, she made her way to the store. HMV. Even though it was a CD shop, there were some deals on the UMDs they had in store. She entered and made her way to the video game section.

This was when she saw Satoshi, browsing the CDs. Of course, this was a CD shop. Of course he would be here, out of all the places.

"**Hey, Mochida-kun.**"

Satoshi turned around, a bit surprised to see Ayumi here.

"**Oh, hi, Shinozaki. How's that PSP?**"

"**It works, but it's missing the games.**"

Satoshi put one of his hands in his pocket. "**Haha, I see. You're here to pick up some games?**"

Ayumi nodded.

"**Hmm… Why don't you try Final Fantasy? I'm sure it's here.**"

"**Oh, ok. Thanks!**"

She made her way to the games section and searched for it. After looking for a while, she found it and took it.

When she came back, she noticed Satoshi was over at the cashier, checking out his purchases. She made her way there to also pay for her game.

"**I guess that was my, uh. Christmas present for you.**"

Ayumi giggled. "**A late one.**"

Satoshi smiled. His smile always gave her a sense of warmth inside of her. His purchasing was done and he made his way outside and waited. After paying for the game, she went to join with him. They started to walk out of the shopping centre.

"**I can't let a girl like you walk home alone, can I?**"

She laughed. "**I suppose not.**"

They opened the doors that led outside and started to walk down the street, in the direction of Ayumi's house.

"**I have a, uh… plan for next year.**"

"**A plan?**"

"**Yeah, about the homerooms. I have a way to get us all together next year.**"

Ayumi turned a little wary of the idea. "**What is this 'way?'"**

"**Haha, it's a secret. You'll see, eventually.**"

"**Aw. C'mon, Mochida-kun!**"

They reached her home and they said their goodbyes before Ayumi went into her house with the game. She took her shoes off and made her way down the hall rather quickly, bag in hand. She opened the box containing the UMD and put it in the back slot of the PSP. She powered it on and then it auto launched it.

The first game on her PSP. But, after launching, she let out a powerful yawn. She really felt tired and needed some sleep. Saving it for tomorrow, she turned the PSP off and put it down on the table. She changed into her night clothes consisting of some pajamas and went off on her bed to sleep.

A plan. What did Satoshi have as a plan?

* * *

Revised earlier chapters about Ayumi's house. In Blood Drive, her room is on the first floor.


	9. Chapter 9

Yoshiki stood in his bed for a while after waking up, the noise of the cars outside waking him up. He sat up feeling rather sick, and wanted to go back to sleep again. Yawning, he fought his way out of his bed and stood up on the floor.

He checked the clock in his room, which read 12:00 PM. It's like he has a tendency to sleep in during the breaks. He also used to sleep in earlier in high school. He also walked over to the calendar, which was on the last month of the last year. He needed a new calendar.

People would always think of having a New Year's resolution, but he couldn't think of any. What's the point anyway in having something to do for the New Year? It seemed just like a poor excuse to get people moving.

Speaking of poor excuses, he didn't have an excuse for really skipping out on his homework or playing his guitar. After brushing his teeth and eating a quick breakfast—or lunch—he decided upon on of the two choices. He sat there thinking about which choice to make.

Then, suddenly, his phone rang. The caller ID read Satoshi. Why would he call him at this hour?

Satoshi. He was the person who asked him for the impossible: sneaking into the school and logging onto the server to make a set class with the set students. Sighing, he pressed the green phone button and put the speaker against his right ear and spoke into the receiver.

"_**Hello?**_"

"_**Oh, hey Yoshiki. Are you going to come to the New Year's festival?**_"

"_**Festival?**_"

"_**Yeah, at the park nearby.**_"

"_**Oh… well… ok. I'll be there I guess.**_"

"_**Ok. See you.**_"

Yoshiki hung up and put his cellphone down. He changed into street wear, picked up his phone and walked out the door, locking it behind him.

He looked at the parking lot on his way out. The two-story rental apartment building he lived in was seemingly getting aged, but still functional. Not many cars were parked.

He turned right and walked towards the stairway. Once he was on ground floor, he walked out towards the road.

A New Year's festival… what could be there? This isn't something he hasn't done for a while. The last time he went to one was back in early junior high school, which was with his family. But, there isn't a family for him to go to anymore, and he was fine with that.

He kept walking until he reached the stairs for the overpass over the main road. There was a convenience store near the stairs as well, which he needed later on. He went up the stairs and on the overpass towards the park.

The park came into view rather quickly as he reached the other side of the road. The traffic of people increased as well. Noises were coming from the park, indicating a definite event going on. The festival.

He looked around to find Satoshi and found him standing outside of the park. Along with him was also Satoshi's sister, Yuka.

"**Hey, Yoshiki.**"

"**Hi, Satoshi.**"

Yuka seemed pretty nervous, her eyes darting about and a nervous expression visible. It was either because of Yoshiki's presence or something else. There wasn't much to be afraid of Yoshiki anyway, so what could possibly make her nervous? Or, maybe she was nervous before he even got here. Yeah, that's probably the case.

Yoshiki's little sister eventually came as well, but their parents aren't around. He decided to ask about them.

"**So where's our parents?**"

"**Oh, they had something to do at home. I don't think they'll be coming.**" She started shifting as if she was a little nervous.

The fact that they're not coming is a good thing anyway, since they pretty much prohibited contact with each other.

Yuka and Miki were soon joined by a brown-haired girl who also looked like she was in junior high as well. Then, the trio of junior girls ran into the festival, carefree of anything so it seems.

Satoshi scratched his head. "**Haha, they never change do they?**"

"**Yeah, I guess not.**"

The two guys started to walk into the festival, but were soon interrupted by the soft voice of a girl beckoning them to stop. When they turned, they saw Ayumi along with Naomi and Seiko.

Satoshi greeted them. "**Yo, Shinozaki, Naomi, Shinohara.**"

They all started to enter the park together, but Yoshiki stood behind for a while. He thought about all this, and about this group of friends that Satoshi wanted him to be with. Was this why he suggested the whole break-in-to-the-school plan? Maybe it was for the best. He was looking out for him after all, like what a friend should do. _Like what family should do._

Ayumi noticed that Yoshiki wasn't with them and looked behind her, noticing Yoshiki now catching up to them. She stopped, letting the others go on and smiled warmly. It seemed pretty innocent.

"**Hiding from yourself...,**" he muttered.

Ayumi's ears caught these words.

"**What? What do you mean?**"

Yoshiki's face looked like he was out of it. Then, he suddenly snapped back in, a bit confused at what happened.

"**Did you say something, Shinozaki?**"

"**Oh, it was nothing,**" she replied.

Hiding from yourself… what did he mean by that? There was some sort of meaning behind it, is there? Given Yoshiki's condition when she found him at the school gate choking himself, it probably could be related to that. He didn't seem in character at the time, and he didn't seem like it here as well.

* * *

The two caught up with the group and they gandered upon the sights. Games and activities were laid about the place, along with the tents and the usual stage of a performance.

Naomi and Seiko were playing a game which involved shooting targets with a pellet gun. Naomi eventually won the game, getting more targets hit than Seiko.

"**So, Naomi is the shooting master, I see.**"

"**Haha, I guess you could say that. But, well—oh! Seiko, what are you doing?!**"

She had picked up the pellet gun and shot it at Naomi's butt. Since she was wearing a skirt, there wasn't much protection against the balls.

"**Getting my revenge!**"

"**Revenge for what?! Ah!**"

The rest of the group laughed, finding the scene amusing. Several bystanders joined in the laughter as well.

Satoshi found a whack-a-mole game in the festival and decided to play it. He picked up the hammer and waited for the beep that indicated the game started.

When it beeped, a mole popped up from one of the hole. He quickly whacked it and then whack the other that popped up after. Then another mole. And another mole. And some more.

His reactions were fairly nice, especially when he played that stacker game. Ayumi was watching him, and Yoshiki noticed her. She seemed to be watching him intensely, like she was expecting him to do something. It seemed a bit over the top, especially for this game. There wasn't much to be excited over whacking a bunch of plastic thing popping out of little cut out holes in the machine. But, whatever suited her boat he supposed. She probably had feelings for him anyway. Most likely.

Once he was done, Ayumi decided to have a go at the bottle toss.

"**If you knew any better, these are probably rigged,**" said Yoshiki under his breath.

Ayumi looked at him with a look in her eyes that said 'I know, but I'm going to do it anyway.' Yoshiki sighed, knowing that she was helpless seeing as this was the situation that she put herself in.

She threw one of the rings at one of the bottles and it just plinked off. She threw another one and it was a miss. She threw the last ring and it looked like it was going to go in, but it bounced off like it disobeyed the laws of physics.

Ayumi smiled sheepishly. "**Yeah… I guess they are.**"

They decided on one last game before having lunch. They reached the game where you hit the button as hard as you can with the hammer as a way of showing strength.

"**Go on, Naomi! Do it! Unless your bust gets in the way…**"

"**What, Seiko? No way! I mean… they won't get in the way. Gah!**"

Naomi eventually picked up the hammer and hit the button with all of her effort. The meter went up around half of the way on the meter, a little different from the last time they were in the arcade. The next person was Seiko, who reached about the same area. They figured the arcade was modified a bit, or vice versa.

Seiko put her hands on her hips and gazed at Naomi.

"**I guess we're even then, huh?**"

"**Yeah… but why are you staring at my chest?**"

Her evil, cat-like look was back. "**We're not 'even' **_**there.**_"

Naomi laughed nervously while Satoshi went up to the hammer. He struck the button and the meter reached around less than half. This was taken as surprising to most of the group. Seiko whispered something into Naomi's ear and then she turned red, blushing from whatever Seiko had told her. Yoshiki assumed it has something to do with Satoshi's turn.

Ayumi went up and grabbed the hammer. After hitting the button, the result was around the same as Satoshi's. She wasn't exactly the athletic type, anyway.

Lastly, it was Yoshiki's turn. He stood at the base of the tower and picked up the hammer. He hit the button with all of his might and the light perked up to around four fifths of the way to the top.

"**Damn, Yoshiki, you're pretty strong**," remarked Satoshi.

"**Yeah, I guess.**"

He fought with people often—or at least used to, so he wasn't exactly surprised about his own strength. Of course, not many people know this. However, these guys also saw him fight that guy on that day, so they've seen his work. That's why they weren't exactly surprised as well. Were they scared of him? He couldn't really tell.

After the game, Yoshiki excused himself to use the bathroom. After he was done, he tried to find the group again.

In doing so, he saw Yuka buying some beads accompanied by Miki. He was about to go to them when Miki pushed Yuka towards the forest area of the park. Yoshiki decided to follow them discreetly, not knowing what was going on with those two. They probably would've changed their plans if he showed up, so he decided to play it safe.

They all walked for a while until they reached a clearing in the forest. Satoshi was standing in the middle looking like he's waiting for someone. Then, Miki pushed Yuka towards him and stood behind. Yoshiki soon walked over to where Miki was to watch what was happening and hopefully get an explanation.

"**Oh. Hey, Yoshiki. Didn't see you around.**"

Miki giggled a little.

"**So, what's this about?**" asked Yoshiki, confused at the situation.

"**Well, Yuka here wanted to give those beads to him for a long time.**"

Yoshiki turned his attention to Yuka, who was carrying a small tube behind her back. He had seen that container before… back in October. He remembered picking it up and then putting it back down since it wasn't of any use. He guessed Yuka ended up finding it in the end.

Yuka slowly approached Satoshi, a blush visible on her face. She hid the container as she approached. Satoshi turned and look at her, smiling but a bit confused. She spoke for a while, but they couldn't make out what she was saying since they were too far away.

Eventually, she moved her hands as if to get ready to show the beads. And then, she put her hands in front of her and extended her hand carrying the beads and shut her eyes tight, smiling with a blush.

Satoshi looked at it for a while before accepting it. He inspected the container. Yuka told him something and then he put the container up to his nose to smell them. He smiled and put his hand on Yuka's head, making her blush even more. It's like she's _enjoying_ it.

They eventually started to walk out of the clearing and towards Yoshiki and Miki.

Satoshi was surprised to see him.

"**Oh, Yoshiki! When did you get here?**"

"**I followed those two until they reached this place.**"

Satoshi's eyes looked down.

"**So you saw everything then…**" He sighed for a bit until he looked up again. "**Let's go back to the festival, shall we?**"

Yoshiki and the others nodded in approval and they began walking back. When they reached the main park area again, Yuka and Miki ran off to have lunch of their own. That reminded Yoshiki of something: no one else other than Yoshiki and her sister knew that Satoshi had a little sister. He decided not to say anything to the others, though.

"**Hey, where have you guys been?**" asked Ayumi as they walked towards the group.

Satoshi gave a quick excuse.

"**Oh, we were just… hanging out.**"

Ayumi looked at the two as if she was unconvinced. But, her face loosened up and she turned back towards the rest of the group.

There was a big towel set up as they were going to have a picnic. Yoshiki didn't make a bento or anything for the occasion, so he had to get up and buy lunch.

He waited in line for some fried rice that a vendor was selling. The line shortened after a while and he was up at the counter. He ordered the rice and paid up. He then stood back and waiting, looking around.

Yoshiki couldn't shake of the feeling of being watched. It really did feel like some presence was watching him. Maybe some outside presence like some supernatural stuff. He didn't believe in that stuff… or did he? It's a stupid topic to think about, he decided. Soon, his lunch was ready. He took the box and a pair of chopsticks and eating utensils and made his way back to the group.

The group had started eating when he arrived. Yoshiki stood down and said a quick 'itadakimasu' before digging in. He didn't hang out with this specific group often, so he was still trying to get used to it.

He looked at the others' lunches. Ayumi had a bento prepared that looked pretty extraordinary. Must be pretty special, doesn't even look like she prepared it herself. Naomi also had a bento of her own as well along with some apple pie. Seiko simply had a KFC chicken bucket and Satoshi had a simple looking bento, with rice and sushi.

"**So, Kishinuma, you were like a… delinquent before, right?**" asked Naomi hesitantly.

Yoshiki yawned and wiped his eyes.

"**I guess you could say that.**"

Naomi nodded for a bit and then Seiko had a question of her own.

"**How did it feel to be some badass in the school?**"

"**Haha, a badass… I don't know. I just wasn't interested in school.**"

Naomi took a bite of some of the pie.

"**I heard you live alone, right?**"

Yoshiki was in the middle of chewing his rice and swallowed.

"**Mmhmm. My parents don't really like me**."

They started to finish their lunch when the sun showed up. It wasn't often that you'd see sun during the winter, even though it's not even that warm. Still, it shined some light on the upcoming hours as they started to enjoy the rest of the festival.

At one point, Yoshiki decided to get his fortune read from the fortune teller. Ayumi was a little hesitant of this, however.

"**You could've just asked me for some fortune telling, you know.**"

Yoshiki laughed playfully.

"**I think I trust this guy more than I trust someone who hates me.**"

Ayumi's face looked pretty shocked for a while until it eventually relaxed and she nodded.

"**I guess that's true…**"

He stepped into the tent and paid the teller some money and shook the container. Then, he took out the stick, which read #16. The teller flipped through some envelopes. He then open the envelope and read the contents.

"_An eager outlook on life"  
_

* * *

The time passed by and soon it reached 6 PM. Naomi and Seiko started to leave, so it was just Satoshi, Yoshiki and Ayumi left.

Ayumi decided to go home first, but she hid behind a corner and observed the two from a distance. They seemed to be acting rather fishy, so she kept a close eye. Although it was probably just an excuse stare at Satoshi, Yoshiki was also acting weird as well. Was this what Satoshi had in mind? Yoshiki was strangely happy from her perspective.

The two talked for a while before Satoshi left and Yoshiki went walking out of the park. She kept her distance from him when tailing. He started to walk on the overpass, and she waiting until he reached the other side before she walked on it too.

Yoshiki stepped into the convenience store to the right of the stairs of the overpass. He walked by a copy machine and then found the item he was looking for: a mirror. He paid for the item and headed out.

He reached his apartment and climbed up the stairs. He looked over the railing at the parking lot before putting the key into his door and unlocking it. He stepped inside and put his stuff down on the living room table. He then went into his room and called Satoshi, picking up the note he gave him earlier.

He started to head out the door again. After walking a few blocks, he eventually stood at the gates to the school. According to his phone, it was 6:30 PM, meaning there are still people in the school for club activities over the break, even during the New Years. He strolled on into the school from the front entrance and looked for the boys' bathroom.

Once he was inside, he locked himself inside a stall and waited for nightfall when the students will start to disperse from the school.

He stood in the stall, just standing there over the squat toilet. He started to think about his future actions. Will this be worth it? What if he gets caught? There was no turning back now. His mind was set on it. If he came here in the first place, this was his decision. No more hesitation. Speculating on the wait time, it would take until around 11 PM for the school to be mostly clear of students and supervisors. So, he decided to doze off.

* * *

Ayumi was heading home after seeing him enter the convenience store. She was rather disappointed as she thought she could've been onto something. Sighing, she started to walk towards home after he was out of sight.

She reached home and unlocked the front gate and into the front door. She took her shoes off and went peeking in the living room.

"**I'm back.**"

Her mother was sitting on the couch, watching TV.

"**Oh, welcome back, Ayumi.**"

She made her way to her room, which was across from the living room. She closed the door and yawned. She looked at the mirror in her room and stared at the reflection. She ran her hand through one of the pigtails.

What is this plan that Satoshi has? What is this damn plan? She felt like sleeping the more she thought about it. Thinking made her tired already. She decided to just throw herself on the bed and get some shut-eye. And with that thought, she did.

When she woke up, she looked around to gather her bearings. Heavy rain was pounding on the window, along with a lightning strike that lit up the room from the door windows. It seemed to be midnight and she was seated at a desk. A classroom desk. This was in school.

She stood up and looked around, the roar of the thunder coming delayed after the flash. It looked a little like her classroom, although it lacked the Daruma Doll that her teacher, Mr. Yamada, had. Nevertheless, it still was a similar classroom to the others in the school, so she could confirm that she was in Kisaragi. The color scheme of the walls also screams it as well.

Ayumi trudged over to the sliding door of the classroom. She, for some reason, had expected it to be locked. But to her dismay, it wasn't locked and it slid open once she applied pressure to slide the door open. She look at the hallway, and it seemed clear enough.

Once she stepped out, the door slid shut violently, startling her a bit. She took a look around once more and noticed a silhouette of a humanoid figure at one end of the hallway, lit up by the moonlight from the long row of windows that lined up the hallway. Then, another lightning strike.

_Twisted neck._

Gasping, she turned her back towards the thing and started to run in the opposite direction. She kept her pace up, despite being rather fatigued quickly. She always had this problem for a while now and didn't know what caused it. Still, she ran for her life. She took one look behind her shoulder and noticed the figure was in pursuit. What the hell is going on? The delayed thunder roared throughout the school, seemingly piercing the walls.

When she turned back her head, there was another tall, male figure. His hair seemed familiar. He stood his ground for a while before walking into a room next to him, opened. She decided to go in there to try to lose the creature with the person, or at least if this person could fight this thing for her.

Once she was inside, she faced the door to close it. The rain continually pounded throughout the room, but there was an odd feeling in the room.

When she turned her body, there was the figure. The lighting flashed at this moment.

_Yoshiki Kishinuma._

His blonde hair meant there was no mistaking this person. She started to approach him, a little happy but he started to utter some words.

"…**can't hide from yourself forever.**"

"**Huh? What do you mean?**"

There was a silence for a while before the thunder roared once more and the door behind her slammed open. She turned around quickly and caught sight of something truly terrifying.

The silhouette that was chasing her was a feminine shape, and she had two pigtails, just like Ayumi. She was also wearing a skirt and was the same height. At this moment, the lightning flashed.

_Ayumi Shinozaki._

It was like she was staring at herself. Except for one little detail: the figure was smiling. Rather abnormally. Her head started to contort itself and it began approaching. Ayumi tried to scream, but she couldn't.

Then the room faded into the void. She was falling down into a seemingly bottomless pit. She kept descending down and down into the pit, along with the other figure. Yoshiki wasn't behind her. She shut her eyes tightly. She was all alone.

And she was scared.

…

The falling stopped. She opened her eyes, and she was still in darkness. Her face also felt compressed by something soft. She stood there for a minute, still trying to catch her breath

She stood up, finding out she had her face buried into the mattress. She couldn't make out what had happened. If she had a dream, she would've forgotten it probably. She never really recalls her dreams.

"**hide from yourself forever…**"

She sat down on her chair and started thinking. Those words stuck in her head, repeating itself over and over like a mantra. The voice sounded distorted, until it corrected itself later.

It was Yoshiki's voice. She saw him at school just a few minutes ago. She felt like that happened. She looked over at the clock in her room, handles pointing towards 10:26 PM.

Ayumi stood up quickly and ran towards the door. That idiot's at school again. She remembered the last time he went there. The thought of him choking himself… this time it could be much worse.

A supernatural being? She feels it. It was almost the same as all those spirits Ayumi and her sister had felt before.

* * *

After a nap, Yoshiki stood up from the cold floor of the stall and checked the time on his phone—10:34 PM. He slowly opened the stall door and look about. The school was plunged into darkness, which was different from the last time he was here.

He looked outside the bathroom. The windows showed darkness as it should, although there was evidence of rain present on the windows. He started to make his way around the school and to the staff room. He took out his note and read it on his way there. This note was all he had to do. It wasn't anything… difficult.

He continued to walk until he heard some footsteps. Quickly, he looked around for a place to hide but the hallway he was in simply had no hiding spots except the classroom next to him. So, he decided as quietly as possible to get into the classroom and hide there. He slid the door open slowly and small enough so he could strafe through, then closed it. Just wait it out, he thought. It won't be like last time.

The footsteps continued and they seemed to be close. The pitch started to increase with each consecutive step. Then the pitch decreased as if the footsteps were going further away. He exhaled in relief and waited a few more moments before exiting the classroom, just to be safe.

He continued walking down the hallway and soon reached the main foyer of the senior high area. The staff room, according to his memory, should be down the hallway from the left of the main entrance. But, it wasn't the staff room he needed to go to this time. He needed to head to the office, which was much closer, which was a relief. The office probably had a computer with access to the school database and class info, at least that's what Satoshi told him.

Walking a few more steps, he heard what appeared to be two set of footsteps. Deciding to hide among the shoe lockers, he tiptoed quietly over to the area and hid out of sight from the hallway. They were probably headed for the main entrance.

"…**so yeah. That's how it's going to be.**"

He recognized the voice. It was the voice of his homeroom teacher, Mr. Hosokawa.

"**I suppose. I also heard we're getting a new teacher this year. She's apparently just graduated.**"

This other voice, however, he didn't recognize. It sounded old, but it was awfully soft. Peeking around the corner, he saw the two figures walking. They eventually kept walking until they reached the main doors, where they stopped. One of the figures was facing towards Yoshiki's way, and he changed his position so that he would be out of their field of view.

The unknown voice spoke again.

"**You made sure the office was locked, right?**"

"**Yep. It's all locked and everything.**"

Yoshiki had a feeling one of them spotted them and made sure to do that. Or maybe it was just pure coincidence. Either way, he made sure to wait until they left the school before making room.

He left his hiding spot and looked at the hallway he was once planning to go to. His plan was foiled now since their conversation provided him info that the door to the main office was locked. He sat down and started thinking about a way to get into the staff room.

In doing so, more footsteps can be heard and he immediately made sure he was out of sight from the source. The footsteps soon passed by. It seems like there are still people present at school, but they don't seem to be here for any official purpose, like him. It could also just be one person running around the school. He couldn't say for sure, since he didn't want to risk exposing his head towards the unknown presence.

After a few thoughts, he concluded that the office could be entered through the outside, since it was on the first floor. He headed outside and around the back to where the office window was. He climbed up to the windowsill and tried to pry it open. It didn't take much effort to budge open, and he was soon inside.

He took a look around the office. There were closed doors and separate office rooms along with rows and rows of cubicles. There were a ton of computers around, and he didn't know which one was the 'right' one. Sighing, he went over and started with the computer that's the furthest distance from the door to prevent as much noise as possible in his hacking attempt. There was a name plate on the desk: Taiki Fukuda.

Booting it on, the computer was starting to power up and was now on the Windows XP loading screen with the blue loading screen scrolling. The sound of the computer's fans and humming started to fill the room, and that could be a problem if someone came.

After around a minute, the computer was on the login screen. This was another problem he was facing. He logged into his school account and used his phone's data services for details on how to login as an admin.

Although he did find a site, he doesn't really think it'll work. Still, he decided it's worth a try. The site read that he had to get access to the Command Prompt first, so he made a new Notepad file and entered these contents into it, as shown on the site:

_ echo off  
command  
comand com  
pause_

After typing those words, he clicked File and then Save As. Saving it as "_run_" with a bat file extension and under "All Files," he then browsed to the desktop and clicked Save. He then browsed to the desktop and clicked the file that he made.

A black window came up for a few moments then it disappeared. Of course it didn't work. He kept looking around for another way, but one more problem arises. The sound of footsteps again, but this time it seemed slower than the lone footsteps he heard twice before. They came closer and closer to the staff room, with the sound of the computer humming giving away his presence to whoever was out there.

The sound of a key turning filled the room and the door slid open slowly and something walked into the room. The computer screen, he thought. He forgot to turn it off. The person or whatever knew where he was now. The window was still open, but was in the field of vision of the door, so going for that escape probably won't work as he would probably be seen. But, did it really matter if he was seen escaping anyway? What if it was that thing from October?

"**You're here? Still here…**"

The fading voice seemed distant and the footsteps came closer. His premonition came to life.

"**No… get away from me!**"

Yoshiki tried to get back away from the door but he backed up against a cubicle wall. The figure appeared. It seemed like a person. A man.

Then the face of his homeroom teacher appeared.

"**What are you doing here, Kishinuma?**"

Yoshiki relaxed for a bit before he was met with the reality of the situation: he was caught. Caught in the act.

"**I knew I heard something coming from here.**"

"**I-I can explain everything, sir.**"

Hosokawa was crossing his arms and had a skeptical look on his face.

"**Well, you better explain fast.**"

Yoshiki nodded and pulled out the note and gave it to his teacher. Hosokawa took the note and studied it while Yoshiki was explaining.

"**I'm trying to get all these people in one class for next year. Someone asked me to do it.**"

Hosokawa stood there studying the paper until he sighed and looked at Yoshiki for a good while. He kept his gaze while the computer hummed in the background.

"**Uh… sir?**"

His teacher broke out of his sudden trance and went over to the computer. He logged off Yoshiki's account and logged onto an admin account, which didn't seem like Hosokawa's account. From the username, Yoshiki guessed it was one of the secretaries' accounts considering it had the same context as the name plate on the desk.

After logging in, his teacher browsed through a few folders before clicking on a file which opened up a window. As Yoshiki watched, he changed some dropdown boxes and clicked a button. He then browsed to the last class of next year's second year classes, 2-9.

"**If you're caught, don't mention my name. That's an order. You got that?**"

"**Yes, sir.**"

Hosokawa turned his back and walked out. Yoshiki didn't know why he was helping him, but there wasn't any time to think about that now. He got on the computer and looked at the general gist of controls. Browsing through the classes, he changed the students on the list into the class of 2-9.

_Ayumi Shinozaki, Satoshi Mochida, Yoshiki Kishinuma, Mayu Suzumoto, Morishige Sakutaro, Naomi Nakashima and Seiko Shinohara. _He confirmed the list and clicked Save. He then closed the program and shut off the computer. He decided it was time he got out of there.

The room suddenly felt cold, even though the window was shut. Wait. The window was shut? Did Hosokawa close it? Yoshiki didn't remember the window being closed, nor did he remember seeing Hosokawa closing it either. Someone or something else closed it. He had a bad feeling, like he did when he was here in October. He quickly made a break for the sliding door out of the room without any second thoughts.

He slid the door open forcefully and made his way out. The darkness of the hallway was lit up by the moonlight of the night through the windows. He heard footsteps to his right and looked. There was a small figure. Running towards him.

He turned and ran. He didn't know what it was or why it was here. He just ran towards the front entrance. Once he reached it, he left through the front doors and started to run across the front yard.

He reached the front gates and looked behind him. The figure was nowhere to be seen now. The clock on the schoolhouse read 10:55 PM. Suddenly, more footsteps came up to him from the sidewalk and he turned to face the source.

"**Kishinuma?**"

"**Oh. Hi.**"

Ayumi was catching her breath. It was clear that she was trying to desperately get here in time. But why?

After a few more pants, Ayumi decided to ask her question.

"**What are you doing here at this hour?**"

"**That's what I should be asking you. Did you come here in the middle of a marathon or something?**"

Ayumi sighed, knowing that she was out of shape. It was easy to tell that she had run for a while

"**Well, no. I just had a feeling I'd find you here.** **Like last time…**"

"**Oh, yeah.**"

Yoshiki started to turn and walk away.

"**Wait, Kishinuma-kun!**"

Yoshiki didn't wait, and he kept walking away from Ayumi. She sighed in frustration and looked at the school. What could be so intriguing in there that caused him to check it out?

* * *

Yoshiki continued to walk along the lit up streets of Tenjin to his apartment. He could probably trust Hosokawa in keeping what he did as a secret. But, Ayumi? Will she find out? She's probably too oblivious though. But, what other explanation would there have been for her showing up there? Did Satoshi tell her?

He grumbled at the thought. Maybe Ayumi got him to fess up or something. Considering her love for him, probably oh-so-concerned. Well, what's done is done. Hopefully this will shed some light for next year.

He reached the steps to the second floor of the apartment, and was walking towards his door. In doing this, his phone rang.

"_**Are you done yet, Yoshiki?**_"

"_**Yeah, it's done.**_"

"_**Great. I'm, uh, surprised. Well, now you can come to the fireworks at the park.**_"

"_**Fireworks?**_"

Fireworks? Why would there be fireworks at a time like this? He thought about it a bit more before reaching an answer.

"_**Oh right, New Year's. Alright, I'll see you there.**_"

He hung up the phone and turned back towards the park. Ayumi would probably be there as well, so that might make things interesting.

He made his way over to the convenience store and then onto the overpass. There was the park there, as usual. Except, it was lit up brightly like a target ready for a bombing run.

He made his way in and started searching for Satoshi and the others. In doing so, he ended up running into Ayumi.

"**Oh, hey Kishinuma-kun. You're here for the fireworks too?**"

"**Mmh. Yep. Trying to find the others.**"

They made their way around together trying to find them. Eventually, they found Seiko walking into the forest. Both of them followed her into the forest, since they assumed the rest of the group was in the forest as well.

That assumption turned out to be true as the group was seated in the place where Yoshiki recognized as the place Yuka gave Satoshi her beads. They're even using the same towel they used during lunch.

Naomi was the first to notice the two.

"**Oh, hey guys! Finally!**"

Seiko jumped as a reaction and looked behind her.

"**Woah! You guys were following me?**"

The group laughed cheerfully. It seems like Ayumi forgot about what happened earlier, or at least she's not mentioning it to the group now. Still, Yoshiki decided to enjoy himself for once.

The two sat down and the group waited until the first of the fireworks were lit up into the air, the sound of the exploding lights vibrating throughout the park.

Naomi decided to ask everyone a question.

"**So… what's everyone's New Year's resolution?**"

The group thought about the question for a while, and the fireworks kept going during their period of silence.

"**To stay more on task,**" said Ayumi.

"**Be less of a coward, I guess,**" mentioned Satoshi.

"**To grow my boobs more,**" blurted Seiko.

The group was amazed at how she could say that with such a straight face. Naomi was smirking.

"**Putting more effort into my schoolwork,**" said Naomi.

The group looked at Yoshiki now, who already had his answer.

"**To change from being a delinquent.**"

Another firework boomed after this, and the lights filled the sky. The group kept watching over the fireworks for a while. After a while, Yoshiki stood up.

"**Where are you going?**" asked Ayumi.

"**I have somewhere I need to be.**"

Ayumi scratched her head. "**Well… ok then. Good night!**"

* * *

Yoshiki walked towards the trees and back into the main park area, where there was a crowd of people. They were dressed in all sorts of clothing from kimonos to tuxedoes. The place was pretty vigorous, but it was no surprise considering it was New Year's.

At this time, he would probably be leaving his job but since it was New Year's, his workplace was closed for the holiday. The place he had in mind was a temple.

After leaving the park, he walked a long way towards the temple in the town. When he finally reached it, he climbed up the many stairs it took to reach the main temple area. Once he did reach it, he looked at the statues of the Buddha.

In Japan, usually people would come to pay their offerings at this time. Wishing for whatever, whether it be change, difference in wealth, a new item, so on and so forth. He had another thing in mind as a wish, though.

He bought an incense stick and stood at the middle of the temple area where there was a pot of sand with many other sticks in it already, burning away. The smell of incense was present throughout the temple and he felt like coughing right about now. Despite the overwhelming smell, he mustered the courage to step up to the middle. He took out his smoking lighter and lit up the stick he was holding. Then, he closed his eyes and bowed his head towards the main statue.

After his wish was made in his mind, he put the stick he lit into the pot. A piece of the burning incense stick fell off and hit his hand, causing him to jerk back violently. He checked his hand for any burns, and luckily enough there weren't any.

His offering was made and he started to go out of the temple, and down the steps. He was back on the street this time and walking towards his old house. He made his way to the door and rang the doorbell.

His father opened the door and looked at him.

"**Hey there, Isao.**"

Isao stood there looking at his son for a while. His eyes looked a bit different than before, but then it reverted back to the usual eyes that Yoshiki had seen many times before. The eyes of hatred.

"**Why the hell are you back here, huh?! Don't you have anything else better to do?**"

Yoshiki could see Miki in the hallway, looking to see what was going on. At the sight of Yoshiki, her eyes turned watery. At this point, Yoshiki decided to close the door on his father's face.

The wish didn't work.

After slamming it shut, he sighed. His father still hated him, even at this time. His mother probably did as well. The New Year's, eh. He started to leave the front yard with a bitter feeling inside of him. After seeing her sister's eyes… maybe he slammed the door in anger. Or maybe he did it out of frustration.

Tsubota was walking by and noticed Yoshiki. He stopped, and so did Yoshiki. They both eyed each other for a while. Yoshiki kept holding his ground until Tsubota heaved out some air and walked past.

After he walked past, Yoshiki was smiling. The person still hasn't figured out all the things Yoshiki had some, has he? Such an oblivious fool. Such an idiot. No wonder they both had a hated relationship with each other. He hated Tsubota as much as he hated him. They were both disgraceful in each other's eyes.

He made his way to the apartment building, climbed up the stairs and entered his apartment room. He closed the door behind him and lay down on the couch, tired. The night was about to be over soon, as the clock he read showed 11:43 PM. In a few days, school would start again. And then it would be Valentine's Day in February. Of course, the day of drama with all the confessions.

The door received a knock and a doorbell ring. When he made his way over there, there was her sister standing there.

"**Miki… why are you here?**"

She stepped into his apartment like usual.

"**I don't know… I just felt like…**"

Then she ran up to Yoshiki and embraced him, suddenly. It took Yoshiki by surprise but he regained his composure and put her hand on Miki's back as well.

"**When I saw how dad treated you… it's just the first time I saw him like that to you…**"

He felt his shirt getting wetter from her tears.

"**I know. It's ok… they're going to keep hating me, no matter what I do. Even if I did something magnificent, they're just going to use it as material for criticism.**"

Miki was shaking a bit now.

"**But… they don't really understand, do they?**" She was choking on her tears. "**How you're trying to change…**"

Yoshiki sighed.

"**They regret they made me… but I can do what I want.**" Yoshiki started to push her away. "**Just… don't let it bother you, ok?**"

Miki stepped back and started to wipe her tears.

"**Yeah… ok.**"

She pulled out something from her pocket. A small bag. She handed it over to him and he took a good look at it.

"**I heard your guitar broke. So… I decided to get these.**" Miki smiled, although her face was still a little damp from before. "**Have a good New Year's, onii chan.**"

"**You too.**"

Yoshiki smiled as she started to leave his apartment. Once she was out, she closed the door. Yoshiki stared at the package of strings for a while.

The only person he told about his guitar strings needed fixing was Satoshi… so he probably told her about it. What a good friend Satoshi is. He walked into his room and looked at his guitar. He still hasn't fixed it, even until now. He'd laid off playing guitar since then, so it didn't really seem like a problem to him until now.

This is proof that Miki's encouraging him to keep playing the guitar. It was a direct source of encouragement. So, he channeled that encouragement and picked up his guitar and started to replace the strings, unwinding the current strings from the tuning pegs.

* * *

The fireworks at the park were over, and the crowds of people were starting to deflate. The group also decided to do so, since it was almost midnight.

"**Stay safe, alright?**" Ayumi was standing up, staring at the group.

The group nodded as they all started to leave the park. Ayumi was making her way over to the overpass and went over it, staring at the convenience store. That was the same one Yoshiki had entered before. What did he get in there anyway? She was also surprised it was still open at this hour. Well, it is a 24/7 hour schedule after all. It would make sense for it to be open all the time, even on holiday.

When she reached her home, everyone was pretty much still awake it seemed as the lights were still on. She peeked in the living room and noticed her father sitting in the couch this time.

"**Hey, dad.**"

Ayato adjusted his glasses and looked over at Ayumi.

"**Oh. Hey, Ayumi. How were the fireworks?**"

**"They were nice, I guess.**" She shifted her self.

"**Well, you can go wash up now. Washroom's open.**" He moved over to pick up the remote.

Ayumi stopped peeking and went upstairs and into the washroom. After she was done brushing, she went into her room and changed into her sleepwear.

This was a strange day, but it was still the New Year's. It was something to look forward to, a New Year. Feels like something important is bound to happen... something related to Satoshi's "plan."

But, she didn't know what it was.


	10. Chapter 10

Yoshiki stood at the doorway to the roof of the school, looking outside. He frowned at the sound of raindrops pecking the surface of the concrete. It had been raining outside for a while, and there wasn't any cover from the downpour outside on the roof. The roof wasn't meant to accommodate regulars.

Sighing, he reached into the pocket of his school uniform to take his lunch out. It was thicker than the standard uniform since the school schedule said that the winter wear began back in December. He decided on either sitting down on the staircase or going into the cafeteria. Or he could eat in the washroom again, but he'll probably get ratted out by Tsubota for sitting in a stall for too long.

He made the decision to go to the cafeteria and descended down the stairs to the lower floors of the school. Eventually, he found his way into the cafeteria and looked around. There were many glances from the surrounding students, and also some turning their heads to whisper to their friends. He remembered the time where he fought that guy here. Well, he can't help the reputation that he brought up into this school.

"**Hey, Yoshiki!**"

Yoshiki turned his head in the direction of the call to see Satoshi standing up in the midst of the tables. He eventually made his way over to him and noticed three other people sitting on the bench he is standing up from, all in the beige Kisaragi winter uniform. He recognized Ayumi and two others from the New Year's festival, but he forgot their names. There were several lunch boxes laid about on the table.

He sat down next to Satoshi, across from the three others. He moved closer to Satoshi's ear to whisper something.

"**Uh… who are those two again?**"

Satoshi looked puzzled for a moment before he realized what Yoshiki was asking for.

"**Oh, right! I never introduced them to you properly, haven't I?**" He gave out a nervous chuckle and pointed towards the one with short, brown hair. "**That's Naomi... Nakashima.**"

Naomi gave Yoshiki a small wave and a shy smile, which Yoshiki returned with a small wave of his own. Seiko grabbed her chest and began fondling with her hands.

"**Also known as the one with the biggest boobs in town!**" blurted Seiko.

Naomi's face turned red and she tried to get Seiko to stop. Both Yoshiki and Satoshi felt awkward being around them.

"...**and that's Seiko Shinohara,**" said Satoshi. He leaned in closer to Yoshiki's ears. "**She can get a little rowdy at times,**" he whispered.

Yoshiki chuckled for himself as he watched Naomi push Seiko off.

"**Yeah, I sorta noticed that before.**"

Seiko gave Yoshiki a small wave as well, along with a rather suspicious looking smile. It looked more like a devious smirk more than anything. Yoshiki gave back an awkward wave. He recognized the two from the list Satoshi gave him when he broke into the school, and he also saw them at the New Year's festival.

He looked over at Ayumi who was silently eating her lunch, but smiling. She turned her head towards Yoshiki and they both stared at each other for a while before Yoshiki cut off the gaze. He put his lunch on the table and opened the box.

"**You've never eaten here before, have you… Kishinumaah~?**" purred Seiko.

He was a little surprised that she knew his name. Probably from all the rumors around, or maybe from Satoshi and Ayumi. Yeah, that's most likely.

"**Mhmm. I never.**"

Ayumi looked at him again. She knew that he was trying to change, and she was happy for that. It satisfied her that she could influence his future like that.

The group continued to eat their lunches, with Yoshiki mostly remaining silent. It sort of felt like he didn't belong here but that didn't matter. These were the only friends he had. He remembered two more people from Christmas, Mayu and Morishige. Weren't they on the list as well?

"**Hey, where are those two others anyway?**"

Satoshi stopped eating, looking confused. "**Two others? Who?**"

"**You know… uh… Suzumoto and Morishige?**"

"**Oh, those guys. They're at drama practice.**" He took another spoonful of rice.

Yoshiki nodded and went back to eating his lunch. He noticed these guys didn't care about what his current reputation was in this school. It probably was the right thing to break into the school.

Lunch hour continued for a while. Yoshiki checked his phone for the time—12:33 PM. He felt the urge to go hit the lighter again. The windows in the cafeteria still showed it was raining.

"**Well, I need to go somewhere for a while, so I'll be right back.**"

As he stood up, Satoshi stopped eating and turned to address him.

"**Where are you going?**"

"**Err… the washroom.**"

Yoshiki started to make his way out of the cafeteria. People were also starting to leave as they were finishing their lunches. He reached the stairwell and went to the second highest floor to the roof and went to the roof stairwell.

He ascended the steps to the roof and opened the door. The rain continued to pour as he took out his package of cigarettes and his lighter. There was a symbol engraved into the lighter, looking like a candle symbol.

He took out a stick and reached back into his pocket to put away his pack. He shielded the flame, lit the end of the cigarette and put away his lighter. He was standing just on the second step from the roof, and he exhaled out the doorway.

Watching as the smoke was swept away by the wind, he felt a tap on his shoulder. He quickly turned around.

"**Shinozaki?!**"

Ayumi looked at his right hand, which had a cigarette in between two fingers. White smoke was emitted from one end, and the smell started to intrude Ayumi's nose.

"**...you smoke, Kishinuma-kun?**" She started to cough a little.

"**Uh... well... yeah.**"

He knew there was no use denying the fact since the evidence was in his hand. It would be literally caught red handed if he burnt himself, and he laughed a little at the thought.

"**You know smoking is bad for you, right?**" she said, seeming to disregard the fact that he found the situation a little humorous.

"**Mmhm.**"

Yoshiki pulled out his pack and looked at the big red warning label: _Smoking kills. _Next to it was a picture of a victim of smoking. He started to laugh again.

"**Why are you laughing? This isn't funny, you know,**" she ranted, crossing her arms.

Yoshiki put away the package and took one last drag from his cigarette before throwing it out, watching as it got swept away. He then exhaled the fumes and looked at Ayumi.

"**Well? I'm done, am I?**"

Ayumi looked at Yoshiki and turned her gaze towards the pocket he put the package in. Yoshiki caught on and put his hand in that pocket.

"**You're not really done yet,**" she growled.

"**I'm not giving you the package, Shinozaki,**" he said, sternly.

He moved his eyes towards hers and gave a cold stare. Ayumi recognized this stare...

_She shivered when his grey eyes eyed her coldly as he walked out of the cafeteria, casually as if nothing happened. But, the student he injured laid sprawled across the floor a few feet behind him, bruised and bleeding._

Ayumi flinched at bit at that memory and started to move away. Her eyes looked a little weary. He can prove to be a little untrustworthy at times.

"**Then just... don't smoke as much, ok?**"

Yoshiki nodded as she started to descend the stairs. He found her kind of cute when she's mad. Coughing, he decided to walk back to the cafeteria to finish his lunch.

He reached the cafeteria and found the table, seeing the others were more or less finished. Ayumi wasn't here, so he assumed she was back in her classroom.

Satoshi stopped short of putting the last spoonful of rice in his mouth, noticing Yoshiki's arrival.

"**Long bathroom break?**"

Yoshiki sat down and put his legs under the table.

"**I suppose.**" He picked up his spoon and started to finish eating.

Satoshi put the last bite and began chewing. He looked around before his eyes lit up. He waited until he was done chewing before asking a question.

"**Where's Shinozaki?**" Satoshi wiped his mouth with a napkin."**She kinda said she was going for a bathroom break too, but she seemed suspicious.**"

"**Probably back in her class**," murmured Yoshiki, not looking at Satoshi.

Satoshi sighed and looked at where Ayumi previously sat.

"**Her lunch box is still here, though.**"

Once Yoshiki was finished, he stood up.

"**Well, you can go return it then.**"

"**I can't,**" groaned Satoshi, "**I promised Naomi I'd help her with her work.**"

Yoshiki smirked. "**I still haven't wondered why you call her by first name. Are you two... lovers or something?**"

Satoshi's face turned pepper hot at the thought.

"**S-shut up..,**" he stammered.

Then the thought came to him. Ayumi had feelings for Satoshi, so it's probably better if he went. He went over to pick up her empty yellow lunch box.

"**Guess I'll return it then...**"

Walking in the halls, he tried to recall Ayumi's class number.

_'__**I'm Shinozaki from 1-3. Sorry… to have butt in like that.**__'_

The thought rang in his head like a bell. He made his way over to the classroom of 1-3.

The door was open, so he could peek in without too much trouble. He looked around the students to see the blue-haired Ayumi. She was seated at her desk, sketching something in her sketchbook. The chalkboard had a few doodles along with the date—Thursday, January 17.

Yoshiki walked in and made his way over to her, but discreetly. He walked slowly up from behind to see what she was drawing. A guy with short hair, arms discreetly. He walked up quietly towards her, until he could see most of what she was drawing. _Short hair, one hand on his hip… _Yeah, that's Satoshi, alright. Would've turned ugly if he saw that himself.

Ayumi was thinking about him. Satoshi seemed to be the ultimate guy for her. Definitely more trustworthy than Yoshiki. He cares so much about everyone. She smiled as she started to sketch his legs.

Suddenly noticed a shadow and turned around, noticing Yoshiki standing there. She quickly put the smile and sketchbook away, slightly blushing.

"**W-what do you want, Kishinuma-kun?**"

Yoshiki took out her lunchbox and put it on her table.

"**Giving back your lunch box,**" he said, looking bored.

Ayumi hesitated before taking the box and putting it inside her desk.

"**Thanks, I guess,**" she muttered before giving him a dismissive wave.

Yoshiki left the classroom and started walking towards his own classroom. That drawing confirms it: Ayumi has a crush on Satoshi. Whether or not Yoshiki would tell Satoshi is an undecided question. He didn't put too much thought into it, since Satoshi probably likes Naomi anyway.

He arrived at the door, the above name sign reading 1-5. He entered and went to his desk, putting away his own lunchbox. Then, he put his arm and his head on his desk and started to doze off. When class started, he put his head up and paid attention, Hosokawa giving him a small smile.

Yoshiki paid attention especially in music class, the only thing he's legitimately interested in. Although it was mostly just woodwind and classical instruments, the overall concept of music was appealing to him.

Once class was all over, Yoshiki stood up and grabbed his bag, stuffing the assigned homework inside. He then proceeded to leave the classroom and started walking towards the stairwell.

However, he stopped when he saw a window overlooking the junior high wing. A large crowd of juniors were starting to leave the building. Her sister was somewhere in there among the juniors. He sighed since he knew finding her would be like a needle in a haystack. It also wasn't raining anymore.

He went to the stairway and descended towards the main entrance. From there, he changed into his outdoor shoes and exited.

As he walked around the school and made his way through the crowd of people out the front gate, he thought about going his old house to see if he could see Miki. But, his parents probably wouldn't be happy seeing him with her. Even if she saw him on her way back from school, they would probably worry since she would be late returning.

He walked on the streets heading towards his house, but stopped short at the overpass walkway to the park. He checked his phone clock—4:24 PM. After seeing the time, he decided on going home first; he had work today, after all.

After stopping by his apartment and dumping his school pack and changing clothes, he went over to the music shop for his shift, which starts at 4:30 PM.

Arriving at the building, he stepped inside and looked for the lock. The clock on the wall behind the cashier's desk had its handles pointed towards 4:28 PM. Of course, it could be off by a minute, but it still had the general time.

He reported to the break room where his manager was, carrying a cup of coffee. He scratched his short hair and said something to a co-worker. After the manager saw Yoshiki, the manager turned his body to face him.

"**Hey, so remember how you told me about your situation?**" He took a sip of his coffee.

Yoshiki scratched his face, but remembered his family problem. They won't help him with money at all.

"**Oh, yeah. What about it?**"

"**Well, I was wondering if you'd be interested in a night shift. The other guy called in sick today,**" he stated, yawning a little. "**Shift goes to 11. Just leave at your normal time—around 6:30, and come back at 7.**"

Yoshiki nodded and accepted, since he would muster up all the effort for a little more cash. The manager smiled and told him to go out to do his job.

* * *

Ayumi looked around in art club room gazing upon the various drawings all over the walls. They were from previous artists, some who already graduated. She decided to draw a portrait of a candle. She put another candle on the table as reference.

"**A candle? Guess that's why they call you the evil class rep,**" joked one of her clubmates.

Her clubmates helped her a lot with the fine details. She started to remember the time when she went to Hinoe for help when she was intimidated by the others. Now, she's past that and accepted it, so she smiled back.

When she was drawing the body, she asked the supervisor if she could light it. When she was given the OK, she used her own lighter for her own ritual shenanigans and lit the wick, setting it ablaze.

It took a while, but she slowly drifted the pencil across the paper to draw the flame. She started to draw the outline of the flame before drawing the inner "blue" part, continuing like this for a long while to be as precise as possible.

After the portrait was finished, she checked the clock—6:32 PM. One of the senior artists went over to check the finished product.

"**Wow, Shinozaki,**" he started. "**I think you drew better than when I was a freshman myself."**

He looked around the room and pointed towards a picture of a campsite, the campfire having the same type of drawing style, more or less. Ayumi looked at this and smiled, agreeing as the flame seemed to be less detailed than Ayumi's.

"**I probably spent less effort on it, since the drawing had other things, but the main focus was the campfire, anyway.**" He chuckled a little at the sight at Ayumi's smile. "**You must be really happy, huh?**"

Ayumi nodded. "**You bet I am!**"

"**I remembered the first few months you came here,**" he said, a smile staring to form as well. "**You looked awkward and kinda... scared from what I remember.**"

Ayumi sighed, knowing the truth of what she was thinking back then. "**Yeah, I was pretty discouraged by all of you other guys.**"

One of her clubmates smacked her on the head playfully.

"**Don't worry, we'll make you as good as us in no time!**"

"**Thanks!**"

Ayumi was ecstatic to hear this, especially from the artists who had way more experience and skill than her. She thought these guys were part of the competition she expected, but they seemed to be eager to teach her.

She decided to pack up and left, saying her good-byes. Then, she went over to the front foyer to change her shoes and headed home.

When she arrived at her home, she unlocked the door and entered. Then she took off her shoes and walked on the wood floor to the living room, expecting her father to be there at this hour. He said that he would be home a little early from work today.

As she opened the door, she saw what she had expected: dad sitting on the couch, watching TV.

"**I'm back,**" she said from the doorway.

Ayato turned her head to face her, his expression a little irritated. He didn't know she was in art club. He knew she was at a club, but not which one.

"**So, where were you?**" he sternly asked.

"**I was at the art club at school,**" said Ayumi, a little tired.

She pretty much expected what he was going to say next.

"**Art club...? Really? You know, Ayumi, that's not a very stable type of career,**" he ranted. "**After all we've talked you into giving up on that, you just disregard our words?**"

Ayumi crossed her arms.

"**You know, I'm in charge of my life now. Not you guys.**"

"**We're just—**" Ayato averted his gaze at her during his hesitation,"—**doing what's best for you.**"

Ayumi grunted as she closed the door and went to the door across from the living room, which was her room.

After entering, she put her bag on the table. Then, she lied on her bed, grabbed her pillow and sagged her face into it. Her parents always wanted to prevent her from doing what she wanted. But, her mom seemed to be less persistent.

She thought it was kind of weird for her parents—or rather, her father—to be all worked up about it. He hasn't really said what occupation she should be going for. The only answer he got that one time was a vague 'you'll see.' It pissed her off.

'_**Ayumi, the rebel… never letting Mom and Dad convince you to "choose a more stable occupation,".**_'

She remembered what Hinoe said that day. It still remained in her head as a leading factor in motivation. Of course she would believe in herself.

Ayumi picked herself up from the bed and went over to her table. She reached into her bag for her pencil case and sketchbook. She started to flip through pages until she reached the page with Satoshi. _He'd probably believe as well._

She continued to sketch him, completing his legs and onto his shoes. Why can't everyone be more like Satoshi, she thought. Kind, caring, easy going... it's like Yoshiki's the complete opposite. And they're best friends apparently.

Thinking about Yoshiki, she thought about him more. He remembered that his teacher and other faculty members said he lived alone. What about his parents? Do they care about him as much as her parents do?

She felt lucky her parents at least care, but did he have a choice? Just how hard does he have it anyway? Considering he had a choice since he has bleached blonde hair, like any other delinquent. Reminds her of all the delinquent types in most of the anime and manga she looks at.

She never truly knew the meaning of being alone, because... she was scared of it. She always wanted people by her side, whether it is her parents, sister, friends, maybe even the teachers at school.

'**You don't know what you don't know.**' That was something her teacher said once. She never really liked her teacher, Mr. Yamada, but he did say some worthwhile things. Except, this one quote isn't exactly worthwhile; nevertheless, it still held some meaning for her.

She closed the notebook and put it in her bag. She decided on meeting Yoshiki to see how it feels like. She wanted to know how it's like being alone with no support from mostly everyone he knew. She was probably going to be alone when she's older.

Wait, is _this _why Hinoe is still living at their parent's home? To stay with her this entire time? Maybe, she'll move in with Ayumi. Her job does surprisingly pay well, even though a psychic seems like a job out of a fairy tale. Ayumi does feel weird concentrations of energy sometimes, so it's definitely possible for that to be more powerful.

Maybe, that kind of job was what her father wanted her to be. She remembered the weird things when she was older, so weird in fact that it _actually_ influenced her maturing self. But, she didn't know why her mother wasn't so concerned about the whole career choice.

Still, she got up from her chair and decided that she'll find the answers to that later. Now, she just needed to find where Yoshiki was. He never gave his number or e-mail, so calling Yoshiki himself is out of the question.

She picked up the phone and scrolled through her contacts for Satoshi. If he knew anything about him, it would be him.

"_**Hey, Shinozaki. What's up?**_"

She was a little nervous. "_**Well... I was wondering if you could tell me where Yoshiki lives.**_"

There was a long pause and a sigh on the other end.

"_**Sorry, I can't really... tell you.**_"

Ayumi was disappointed. Why would he want to keep his location a secret?

"_**What I can tell you,**_" he resumed, "_**is that at this time, he's usually roaming around the park area."**_

_**"Oh, ok. Thanks, Mochida-kun!**_"

"_**Haha, no problem. Why do you want to meet him, anyway?**_"

"_**I just wanted to... talk to him about something.**_"

"_**I see, well I better get going. See ya!**__"_

_"__**Bye!**_"

Ayumi hung up and closed her phone, putting it away in her school skirt pocket. She decided to change into something a little more casual and put her phone on the table. She walked over to her closet to find something fitting

After she was done, it was the same red hoodie that her parents gave on her 14th birthday along with some casual blue denim jeans. She looked in her mirror and adjusted her pigtails. Seeing her reflection, she smiled. Then she remembered this wasn't Satoshi he was seeing, so she was a little more half-assed about her looks. She picked up her phone and headed out the door.

"**I'm leaving for the park,**" she said into the living room.

"**Mmmh, ok then.**"

She went to the entrance and put on her shoes. Then, she went out the door and closed it. After leaving her house, she turned left and headed towards the overpass walkway that led to the park. When she crossed it, the park came into view.

She entered the park and looked around. If he lives alone, most likely he had work. But, Satoshi said 'at this time,' so it's most likely him being around here after work. Her phone clock read 6:47 PM.

She found a bench and began to sit down. There was a feeling of uncertainty in the park, as it was awfully quiet besides the cars that whizzed by.

Then she heard footsteps and shoes scraping, and she looked to her right. It was Yoshiki, approaching with a black hoodie and black jeans.

"**Shinozaki? What are you doing here?**"

For Yoshiki, it was strange to find her here. Especially all alone. It was a little frightening to think of that, so he shut his eyes while sitting down with her.

"**Kishinuma-kun! Well,**" she started, "**I wanted to ask you about something.**"

"**Alright, but I want to ask you about how you found me.**"

Ayumi played with her hair. "**Uhm... Mochida-kun told me.**"

Of course, Satoshi was the one. Well, it was logical since he was the only one who knew about his park and town walking routine. To be honest, he wanted to get out of his apartment for time to think.

"**I see. So what did you want to ask me?**"

Ayumi crossed her legs "**How do you, like, live without parents?**"

"**Parents...**" Yoshiki scratched his blonde hair, and then ran a hair through. "**Well, they basically disowned me.** **It's not really painful to live alone. I just have to put up with it.**"

"**My parents don't really want me to be an illustrator.**" Ayumi brushed her arm nervously. "**They say it's not stable enough as a job option. Although, my sister supports me.**"

Sisters. Are they always the ones to support? His parents didn't want him in the house, but her sister still supported him. I guess we're the same our different ways.

"**Parents are assholes. They shouldn't be the ones dictating what you should do.**" Yoshiki looked up at the sky. "**I know what I did, so I'm responsible. I should be responsible for myself. I will always...**"

Although Ayumi understood most of his words, she didn't know what he _did_. And he seemed to stop his sentence short as if he was trying to control his anger.

"**You'll always...?**" she asked.

"**Oh, uh, sorry. It's nothing.**" He pulled out his phone to check the time. "**Well, I need to go. My next shift starts soon.**"

"**Oh, ok. See you, Kishinuma-kun.**"

Yoshiki gave a small wave as he stood up and left. Ayumi was glad she still had her parents, since he looked like he had it rough. And whatever he did probably didn't help matters at home. She wondered if there was anyone other than Satoshi supporting him.

Then the thought came to her. Maybe she could help him more. She wiped that sudden thought. Why would she want to help him more? She watched as he walked away, Ayumi still sitting on the bench.

Satoshi can help him with that, can he?

* * *

Yoshiki arrived at the music store, reading the clock said that he still had four minutes to spare. He looked at the variety of guitars and picked a cheap one—a Squier Fender Stratocaster, made in China. Then he took a small Marshall combo amplifier and asked the manager if he could play in the break room.

When he said he could, he took them both into the break room and put them down near an outlet. Then, he went to get a guitar cable, a pick and headphones.

Once he was done acquiring the accessories, he went back into the break room and over to his little setup. He plugged the amp into the outlet and then the guitar cable into the amp. Then, he put the other end of the cable into the guitar, on the front.

He plugged in the headphones and put the guitar on his lap, holding it in place. This wasn't the first time playing electric, but he hasn't played much either.

This specific guitar, though, was awfully light and thin. It did feel more comfortable than an acoustic, but sometimes he'd do the classical guitar stance by having one foot up and resting the body curve on that, allowing more control. The shape of a Strat didn't exactly allow for that. He was thinking a Les Paul would be more suitable.

When he turned the amp on, he adjusted and played around with the settings. He strummed a few random chords and picked a few notes. But, once he switched to distortion, an ominous humming came through. Yeah, the Les Paul humbuckers would be useful. They're called _humbuckers_ for a reason.

His manager came in to say his shift started. He left the room and picked up his cleaning and polishing supplies, ready to perform maintenance on everything.

"**You know,**" his manager said at the cashier stand, "**you can pick any guitar available to play with.**" He smiled a little. "**Just be careful with them, especially the Gibson Les Pauls. Frankly, they're overpriced.**"

Yoshiki nodded and started over in the percussion section, seeing a few evening customers.

He started thinking about his parents. They probably didn't care about what he did at this point. Hell, he could just keep doing this job if he wanted. It wasn't a horrible pay, but was't exactly great either. It gave him some more spending cash.

The apartment he lived in took a long time to find. The rent was around ¥30,000 a month; it was discounted from the original ¥60,000 as the landlord knew about his situation. ¥2,500 per hour, and he usually worked around two to five hours along with a lot of overtime, so he would at least make five hours. Although, the government would probably start yelling, his manager insisted to keep it up so he could afford his bills and everything. The pay was rather abnormal, but he didn't question it. The manager was awfully friendly as well.

He inspected the setup of a drum kit, noticing one of the cymbals needing re-adjusting and polishing, as the surface was full of fingerprints. The drum skins also seemed worn out from people who were testing. He wrote down notes and started to spray polish, doing it like how they trained him.

He sighed, knowing that he needed more money, and that discount will be inapplicable after he graduated. Planning a future was never easy. Should he keep on with his guitar hobby and pursue it as a career? The thought of Miki and Satoshi came to mind. They supported him, knowing that he could do it. He can believe in himself.

After the clock passed by four hours, it was now 11:00 PM, when the shop would be closing. He had polished and inspected most of the instruments, including restringing a few guitars and marking clarinets with broken knobs.

Once he collected his pay, he put it in his wallet and started to head home. As he was walking home, the rain started to pick up so he ran. Over the school year, he was more built and in shape, mostly from running to work. Although, PE started to come in more as he stepped up his attendance, the arrogance of his teacher pissed him off.

He reached his apartment flat and went to his suite. When inside, he took off his shoes and shirt, putting it in the laundry basket. He looked in the freezer for a microwavable dinner and put it in the microwave for four minutes as instructed.

He went over to his room and looked at the picture of Miki on the bedside table. Her black, long and straight hair was in the picture, untied She likes to put it in a ponytail, so it was sort of refreshing to see a picture like this. He reflected on those times. _Parents..._

He looked out the windows at the passing cars. Then he checked his pockets as he prepared to take his pants off to change. He took out the lighter and the pack of cigarettes.

Yoshiki stared deeply into the pack of cigarettes for a while, memories coming back to him.

* * *

"**What do you think you're doing?!**"

Yoshiki looked to his right, and his father, Isao, was standing there.

"**You shouldn't be playing with my cigarettes like that!**"

Yoshiki shrugged and he put the pack away in the pocket of his Kisaragi Junior High uniform, a more black compared to the color scheme of the girl's smock. It was also outfitted with a small, white tie.

"**Damn it, Yoshiki.**"

His father raised his hand and swept it down hard on his face. Although Yoshiki was a tall person, his father was almost as high.

_Smack._

Yoshiki stared intently at his father and left for school, still red from the slap. Today was graduation, and he was going to end up with a red mark on his face.

As he approached the door, he noticed her mother talking to Miki in the kitchen. She was dressed in an elementary school uniform of a white fuku along with a black skirt. It was her graduation day as well. He started to go out the door, still hurt.

"**Wait, Onii-chan!**"

He ignored her plea and closed, looking over his shoulder to see his father standing there, dressed in a suit with a disgraceful look. That's right... he's more concerned about him than his mother. Because he's more concerned about losing face from Yoshiki to his corporate employees. That's all he cared about: keeping a reputation.

Yoshiki started walking towards Kisaragi Academy. As he approached the gate, the banner read "28th Closing and Graduation Ceremony." There were lots of seniors and juniors hanging about.

He entered the courtyard and headed to the left, which was the junior wing. After entering, he changed his shoes at his shoe locker and went to the bathroom. He looked in the mirror at his face. It was a little less red now, which was good. He then went to his class, 3-7. Of course, his classmates seemed to be all sentimental.

"**So, we'll see each other next year, Mochida?**"

"**Yeah, we will. Just call me Satoshi.**"

The two short brown-haired friends—or couples, he honestly couldn't tell—didn't notice Yoshiki. They weren't in his class either.

He didn't feel like eavesdropping any longer, so he went into his class and sat at his desk, waiting for the bell. He looked in his pocket and found the pack of cigarettes. Now, he needed a lighter.

When the bell rang and the class started to head to the auditorium, he sneaked over to the teacher's desk to find a lighter. Luckily enough, he was _almost_ guaranteed to find one since he knew the teacher was a smoker.

But, there wasn't one. He sighed and left, going to where the rest of his class was. He looked at the rows of classes until he saw people he recognized from his own class.

They all sat down in the auditorium in a row, waiting for the rest of the third years to fill up the auditorium. As soon as that was done, the goodwill comments were made, along with various speeches. They started to give certificates, but Yoshiki was asleep at this point.

"**Hey. Wake up.**" A classmate shook him to wake up. "**They're calling your name.**"

Yoshiki woke up and stood up, walking towards the podium on the centre stage. He went to the principal and shook his hand, taking the certificate as well. He read it:

_Yoshiki Kishinuma  
__For entrance in Kisaragi Senior High_

He didn't expect to pass, so this kind of came as a surprise. There was the slightest hint of a smile on his face.

After he went back to take a seat, the ceremony passed by again as he slept once more. Once it was over, someone woke him up again.

The doors of the auditorium were filled with others as they started to leave the room. He started to make his way out as well.

Once outside, he didn't pay much attention until he saw something. A lighter fell out of a girl's smock pocket that was getting bumped about.

Yoshiki waited until she moved before picking it up, relieved he had a way to test the cigarette.

He went outside and near the trees by the outskirts of the school and took a single stick out along with the lighter. He put the cigarette in his mouth, and pressed down on the lighter button until a flame was emitted. He brought the flame over to the end of the stick and put the lighter away.

He inhaled through his mouth, smoke infiltrating his lungs. He coughed, but still kept going since it seemed to feel good. _The power of nicotine._

What was a girl doing with a lighter? Did she find one or is she a delinquent? He looked at the lighter: there was a candle symbol engraved into it. Whatever that meant.

When he was done, he threw it on the ground and stepped on it, satisfied with his fix. Then he went around to the front of the school again, noticing seniors carrying black rolls—diplomas. There were also seniors giving their uniform buttons to girls. Typical. Then there was that blue-haired girl again, the one who dropped the lighter.

She seemed to be looking at the brown-haired duo from Yoshiki's perspective. She didn't notice Yoshiki, though. He thought about returning the lighter, but decided on keeping it anyway. She can just go buy a new one.

Yoshiki started to walk home, wondering how things went with Miki and elementary graduation. Just thinking about it made him a little happy.

When he reached home, he noticed boxes in front of the house along with a truck. Was someone moving out or in?

He opened the door to the house and looked at his father sitting in the living room. He was about to approach him when he noticed a snore. Sighing, he went over to his room, but paused to look in the mirror.

His black hair and his grey eyes. It somehow felt ominous and strange, but he passed on the thought. He continued to make his way to his room.

When he opened the door, the room was empty. It suddenly occurred to him.

His father wanted him _out_.

He went out and looked at his reflection in the mirror, staring at his hair. He decided upon something and went into his parent's room. From there, he stole a good sum of money.

After he was done, he exited the house. But, before he did, he looked at his father in the living room. He wanted to punch him. He wanted to hurt him so bad.

But this wasn't the time for that. There would be time later. There was a note on the table with an address with a key attached. His new home?

"**If you wanted me out, well here's your wish granted.**"

He took out a cigarette and put it next to him on the table.

"**Fucker.**"

Then, he left the house, going to the truck that was moving Yoshiki's stuff. He noticed the trucker searching his pockets. His hair was black, and he looked well-built. He had a simple cap on his head along with a mini-jacket, white undershirt.

"**Where'd I put my pack...**" he mumbled.

Yoshiki sat in the passenger seat as the mini-truck started to turn on its engines. Yoshiki gave the note to the driver, and he started to drive.

"**You're a little young to be moving out,**" he noticed.

"**Well, I didn't have a choice.**"

"**I see...**"

The truck continued for a few more blocks before arriving at a two floor apartment building. After the trucker helped Yoshiki move the boxes into his suite, Yoshiki looked in his pocket for the pack that he stole. He took out a cigarette and gave it to him.

"**Hey, thanks. What's a kid like you doing with those anyway?**" he asked, worriedly.

Yoshiki laughed. "**I stole them.**"

"**Oho, I see.**" The trucker laughed as well.

Yoshiki paid him with some of the money he stole and then the trucker went back in his truck, giving him a small wave. Then he drove off.

He walked into the apartment, noticing the wallpaper. It was half ripped. The kitchen had a lone window. The kitchen was also connected to the entrance and living room. He also noticed a personal bedroom in the back.

When he went in, he noticed the window looked over a crosswalk that led to the train station. There were cars passing by on the road below.

He went out of his apartment, taking his key and locking the door on his way out. Then, he went over to the hair salon nearby and paid for getting his hair bleached.

When they were done, he waited for a while in the sun, taking a brief nap. When he woke up, he went back to his apartment and looked in the mirror. His hair was blonde. Smiling, he finally got what he wanted.

He looked at the certificate and put it in the drawer of a desk. Still have unpacking to so, he thought.

He took out the pack of cigarettes and studied it closely.

"**I will always...**"

* * *

Yoshiki shook his head, looking around. His guitar, laptop, clothes were there. He was also shirtless. He was back in the present now.

So that's why Satoshi's name seemed so familiar. He looked at the lighter. Was this Ayumi's? What was she doing with a lighter? Judging from the candle symbol, it was probably meant for candles, which Ayumi had. It fit the description perfectly.

She liked Satoshi from the start, did she? As he recalled more memories, he looked in his desk and took out the certificate, looking at it. He didn't really know why he even attempted the entrance exam. He probably wanted to do something for a change instead of slacking off all the time like a real delinquent. He didn't know what exactly went through his brain back then, just the general thoughts. Actually, they were fading even as he was standing there thinking about it. It's like dreams.

He sighed as he lay on the bed. He doesn't know himself. He's a mystery. A big detective case that he's the own detective of. Where's the clues? Where's the motive? Then the microwave beeping went off, indicating that cooking was done. He changed into sleepwear first

He went over to the kitchen and took out a fork and put it in the living room. Soon after, he began eating it. After he was done, he dumped the empty entrée and dumped the fork and spoon in the sink.

He went over to his bed. It was 11:32 PM, and tomorrow's a weekend. Still, he decided on sleeping anyway.

He took a look at the guitar. It was a gift for his 13th birthday. His father signed him up for lessons, but they ended when he was around second year of junior high. Still, he plays it now for enjoyment and a possible career.

He started to close his eyes as the fatigue starts overwhelming him.

_Oh, Ayumi, no matter what, 'I will always...'_

"**...hate my father.**"


	11. Chapter 11

Days have passed since the time Yoshiki recalled that memory. Nothing really special happened at school during that time span, just life continuing and carrying on with their days in high school.

But, now Yoshiki stood in his room, dressed in his pyjamas, looking at the calendar. With a face of dread on his face looking at February 14, he slowly mumbled:

"**Valentine's Day.**"

Of course, it was the day he had hated the most. The day filled with drama and love confessions; the day filled with acts of "kindness" and gift giving; and the day full of the color red. It's not really a day about showing "love", isn't it? Apparently, giving gifts is the only way of showing love on this day, he thought.

He yawned and stretched, lazily gazing at the clock in the process. It was only 7:16 AM, which was a pretty early time for preparing for school. Oh well, it's like they always say: seize the day.

He went into the bathroom to brush up and wash his face. He looked into the mirror and stared intently at his bleached blonde hair. It was still there. It probably made him less recognizable for other people who saw him before in junior high.

He ran a hair through his hair, thinking about his effort to change. Has he changed completely? He was still wondering if it was worth the effort to change his ways from being a delinquent.

Ayumi was the one to give him that push, and he built up courage… Why is he so nervous now around her? He was sure she wasn't going to give him any gifts at all, even if the gift was completely platonic. She liked Satoshi, anyway.

He can't help but notice Ayumi felt nervous about her own feelings. Sometimes when Satoshi walked by, she'd try to show herself off and make look better than she really is. But, who is Yoshiki kidding? He's just standing in the washroom, criticizing others about how they act around other people. What _does_ he know about Ayumi, anyway?

He put his hand down from his hair and walked out. He made a quick breakfast of cereal he had around and cleaning up. After that, he went over to the living room and sat on his couch.

It was only 7:40 AM now. School was coming up soon, and he'd have to put up with all the happenings at school. He wondered what kind of luck Satoshi would have today with the girls. Probably a lot, considering he's a pretty popular person at school.

Who else was popular at school? He's heard of Mayu Suzumoto, the girl from drama club who he met after the Christmas play. She seemed nice, too nice. He thought about how some guys might get the bad idea from her being so nice. Maybe the person who's always around her also gets that feeling… Sakutaro Morishige. Yoshiki did hear Mayu call him 'Shige-nii' before, although that might be a general nickname.

He stopped thinking about relationships between people he knew and sat up, walking towards his room. He changed out of his pyjamas and into his school uniform, ready for another school day. He looked at his school messenger bag. Looking inside it, he made sure the homework he had completed was in there, ready for today. The usual math assignments, and the complementary essay. Then, he took the bag and slung it over his right shoulder.

When the clock struck 7:50 AM, he made his way out the door and locked it. Then, he started walking to school. Walking on the concrete, still walking heavily like he did on the first day of high school. He stuck his hands in his pockets as it was still fairly cold in February. It was cloudy as well.

Arriving at the front gate of school that led to the front area, he noticed a congregation of people gathered around the gate. Seniors, juniors, freshmen alike, they all seemed to be gifting and socializing with each other. The clock on the school house said that it was around 8:00. School was going to start in 25 minutes.

He made his way to the front doors and changed into his indoor shoes. Then he walked to his classroom, through the junior high wing. He thought about stopping by to see if Miki was, but he didn't actually know where her classroom was. He pressed on, knowing that there were a ton of middle schoolers, so it would take a while.

There was more drama inside the school, like usual. He resisted the urge to yell and walked past them, completely disregarding them. It pissed him off to see them so happy like that. All the guys in disport, girls all blushing for their crushes and love.

As soon as his classroom, 1-5, he went to his usual spot, his desk. There wasn't any escape from the drama though, besides sleeping the morning away. At least, until homeroom is over.

It took a while but the feeling eventually came to him. He was about to sleep away when he noticed Ayumi walking by the doorway. He wondered if she had any chocolates… Well, if she did, it was probably meant for Satoshi. No, it _had _to be for Satoshi.

He put his head down and closed his eyes, trying to suppress the thoughts.

Ayumi kept walking down the hall towards her classroom after using the bathroom, walking past 1-5. There were still crowds of people in the halls, socializing like she would expect on this very day. Her phone showed that it was 8:22, meaning homeroom started in three minutes. She picked up the pace after reading the phone, knowing that she had to be in class on time.

When she reached her classroom, she walked in and took a seat on at her desk. She checked her bag and felt relieved that her chocolate were still there. She eyed the shape of it for a while. It was a red, heart-shaped chocolate, just what people would expect for a Valentine's Day chocolate.

She closed her bag as the homeroom period began, noticing Naomi returning to her desk after talking to Seiko for a while. Ayumi began to goggle Seiko for a while, thinking about her intentions.

It was on that day to the mall that Seiko had tried to make Naomi jealous. But, was it really worth stealing Satoshi from Naomi, just for Seiko's and her own enjoyment? What did Seiko have in mind anyway.

Mr. Yamada started to take attendance, and then started talking about some trivial things that Ayumi could care less about. Class duty was in play as well, but she wasn't on it.

"**So also, today's Valentine's Day,**" her teacher mentioned. "**Ah… a time of love and joy.**"

Mr. Yamada started going on about the original history of the day, boring the class. But, at least he's wasting time until the first period of school started. Ayumi couldn't wait for him to get out of here to stop yapping the class off.

Once the clock struck 8:40, the homeroom period ended and her teacher left the room, saying good luck for the guys on their gift giving. She looked out the window at the cloudy weather and sighed.

First, second and third period soon passed by, and then it was time for lunch. She picked herself off the desk and took the chocolate, stashing it in her lunch box. Then, she exited the classroom and made her way to the cafeteria.

She looked around to try to find Satoshi, and it took a while. When she found him though, he was seated with Yoshiki. They were both eating lunch and talking a little, so Ayumi wondered if coming to them would be a little awkward. Being the only girl… means that the only girl Satoshi would be paying attention to would be her. But, what about Yoshiki?

She eventually built the courage to walk up to them and sit next to them. When she did, Satoshi noticed first, turning around.

"**Oh, hey Shinozaki!**"

Yoshiki turned around as well, looking at Ayumi with a scornful expression for a brief period before turning back. He furrowed his eyebrows while thinking about her. The only reason she's here is Satoshi, he thought. There wasn't any point to come here if he was the only one here. It's only because of Satoshi, the popular one.

Ayumi sat down across from Satoshi and pulled out her lunch box. She wanted to give Satoshi the chocolate right here, and right now, but felt embarrassed. She decided to wait until Naomi came here… surely she had some chocolate for him as well.

It took a few minutes for Naomi to come here, with Seiko of course. Seiko seemed to be pushing Naomi and trying to give her chocolate, and they were still arguing on their way here.

"**But, I'm not a guy!**"

"**Yeah, but c'mon!**" Seiko was shoving her chocolate into Naomi's hands. "**Just take it!**"

"**I already have one for him!**"

She realized where Seiko had been leading her and then turned to face Satoshi, blushing and smiling rather abnormally. Naomi slowly took the chocolate from Seiko's hands and sighed, sitting next to Ayumi. Seiko sat next to her after.

Satoshi scratched his head, and Yoshiki wondered if Satoshi was _that_ dense about Naomi. Then, Naomi closed her eyes and reached in her lunch box, taking out a box of chocolates. She extended her arm towards Satoshi, and offered the chocolate.

"**J-j-just take it!**"

Satoshi was a little surprised and reddened a little as well.

"**Oh… uh… thanks, Naomi,**" he muttered as he took the chocolate.

Yoshiki sighed and hoped it was over. But, it wasn't when Ayumi pulled out her chocolate.

"**Take this as well!**"

Ayumi took her chocolate out of her box as well, offering it to Naomi in the same fashion. Satoshi was a little flustered from all the praise. Of course, Satoshi didn't notice Yoshiki's lack of popularity, but that was fine with him. Was it?

Satoshi took Ayumi's chocolate and put them next to his lunch box, still a little overwhelmed.

Then Yoshiki noticed two more people coming to the table, Mayu Suzumoto and Sakutaro Morishige. Sakutaro was carrying a chocolate, probably from Mayu, he thought. Mayu sat down next to Ayumi with Sakutaro on Mayu's right. They all began to eat their lunches, but Yoshiki and Satoshi were pretty much done eating.

Yoshiki started at Ayumi while she was eating for a while… she didn't seem to notice him staring. Rather, Ayumi was staring at Satoshi… who was staring at Naomi. Seiko turned her gaze towards Yoshiki and played with her hair before a smile formed on her face. Soon, Satoshi broke his gaze, which caused Ayumi to break hers and ditto with Yoshiki.

The usual conversations then started at the table, but before Satoshi could contribute, Yoshiki stood up. He didn't say a word and took his lunch box, heading out of the cafeteria. Satoshi decided to follow him.

"**So, you seem to be the popular guy, eh,**" he said as they walked.

Satoshi scratched his head. "**Well, not like I have a choice in the matter, anyway.**"

They both heard footsteps and turned around. Yuka was standing there, carrying a chocolate as well and blushing mad like crazy. Yoshiki noticed another junior high girl peeking the corner in the background, and hid when Yoshiki moved his eyes towards her. Probably the person who made Yuka go for it. It wasn't Miki since he didn't recognize the brown hair and the pink bunny with crossbones on her uniform.

"**Oh, Yuka. What's up?**"

It didn't take long for Satoshi to realize Yuka was carrying the chocolate. He then sighed and got ready for the words.

"**Onii-chan… this is for you!**"

She put the chocolate in Satoshi's hands and skipped away cheerfully. She went behind the corner where Yoshiki had seen the other girl before.

"**Even Yuka's giving me chocolate…**"

They both walked until they reached the roof staircase, and they both climbed onto the roof. Yoshiki leaned on the railings and looked at the tall buildings surrounding the school, the school courtyard below. Satoshi was next to him, leaning on his back.

"**How do you get so popular anyway?**" asked Yoshiki.

Satoshi yawned. "**I don't know, honestly. It just... happened.**"

Yoshiki sighed heavily at the sight of another chocolate exchange in the school courtyard. There were also more in the walkway between the two wings of the school. He noticed Yuka and that other brown haired girl again, running across the walkway.

Well, this is the result of being a delinquent, he guessed. It's never easy to be a loner when he starts thinking about the things that the more social people do. Still, he tried not to let it bother him too much.

* * *

They just stood there in silence for a while. For a long time, actually. Yoshiki then checked his phone time, which was 12:32. Yoshiki decided to head back down, and Satoshi followed him.

As they walked by 1-3, they heard Naomi's voice calling for Satoshi.

"**Well,** **I'll see you later, Yoshiki.**"

"**Yeah. See you, Satoshi.**"

Satoshi went to Naomi while Yoshiki kept walking down the hallway. He went out into the school's courtyard and sat down on the bench, looking at the trees. Their leaves were mostly withered, but they're starting to grow back soon.

He was met with the sound of a door opening, but didn't turn to look at who it was. Probably someone just passing through.

"**Kishinuma-kun?**"

That was the sound of Mayu's soft voice. He turned around to see the girl, smiling with her small ponytail held up high with two pink balls.

"**Oh, hey Suzumoto-san…**"

"**Just call me Suzumoto!**" she insisted.

"**Ok then… Suzumoto.**"

She smiled some more and skipped over to where Yoshiki was and sat down with him.

"**So, what are you doing alone on this very day?**"

Yoshiki laughed and looked at her.

"**And what are **_**you **_**doing alone? Aren't you usually with Morishige?**"

"**Well—**" She stopped to move back her hair clip that held one of her bangs in place. "—**he said he was going to the bathroom so I was going to wait for him here. That's when I saw you!**"

"**Oh, I see.**"

"**It's his birthday today… and I'm still wondering what to gift him…**"

Yoshiki sat there, looking around in silence. Mayu felt a little uncomfortable, so she wanted to talk about something else, since this topic didn't exactly interest him. But, Yoshiki brought up a topic before she did.

"**Why are you always so happy to talk to me?**" he asked.

"**C'mon, that's a little cold!**" She playfully nudged Yoshiki. "**Well… I like treating everyone equally, you know.**"

Yoshiki raised his eyebrows. Not everyone treated everyone equally, so it was rare to find someone like this in life.

"**I did hear about you being one of the popular ones at this school.**"

Mayu sighed and looked at the trees that were withering.

"**I mean, I guess I am a popular person here… that's how I got my nickname Suzume. And that's probably also why I'm the poster girl for the drama club**"

Mayu laughed a little before turning into a less energetic state, scratching her hair.

"**But… I don't view people as 'popular'. We all have the same needs, and we all do the same things… so…**"

She paused for a while, but didn't seem to continue after. She looked straight ahead at the sky. Yoshiki scratched his head in confusion at the sudden stop.

"**Uh, Suzumoto?**"

"**Oh, what?**" She suddenly appeared as if she broke out of her trance. "**Sorry… I got a little carried away.**"

Mayu smiled once more and Yoshiki's face started to smile as well, though it was a little awkward.

"**Oh! I almost forgot!**" She dug around her school bag and pulled out a chocolate box that was a little bigger than her hand. "**Here. This is for you.**"

Yoshiki studied the container closely, a little confounded. It was a small rectangular box covered in red wrapping.

"**Uh, but what about Moris-**"

"**Don't worry about Shige-nii,**" cut off Mayu, "**he already got his. Plus, I made too many, so just take it!**"

Yoshiki took the chocolate slowly and looked at the package in the palm of his hand, and then he looked back at Mayu, who was smiling. This was the Mayu he knew: the good and nice girl. She's so nice… he wondered what her relationship with Sakutaro was.

He put the chocolate in the pant pocket of his uniform and stood up. Checking the time on his phone, it was 12:41.

"**Well, I have to go find the others now,**" he mentioned, starting to leave the courtyard.

"**But, Shige-nii hasn't come back yet. I want to go find him…**"

Yoshiki sighed and looked back at Mayu.

"**But, why should I have to go with you?**"

"**The **_**boys'**_** bathroom...**"

Yoshiki face palmed, knowing full well that she couldn't be in there. Plus, spending over five minutes in the bathroom… what could someone possibly be doing?

Mayu started to stand up and they both started walking out of the courtyard and to the bathroom that Sakutaro had been in. Yoshiki talked with Mayu to make sure he knew where Mayu was.

"**Before he went, you did tell him where you were going to wait, right?**"

"**Oh… yeah!**"

They soon arrived at the boys bathroom, the girl's not too far away. Yoshiki looked around, but there wasn't anyone around here. It was a little odd, considering this particular area usually was bustling with people leaving the cafeteria.

"**So, this is where he said he was going to go to.**"

Yoshiki nodded and entered, checking the stalls. He squatted down as low as possible to prevent touching the floor, looking under. There was nobody in any of the stalls, so he probably was somewhere around the school.

As he exited, he told Mayu about the bathroom.

"**There's no one in there.**"

Mayu's smile diminished to a worried look, face frowning a little with her eyes growing bigger.

"**Where could Shige-nii be?**"

Come to think of it, the fact that there weren't any students here still bothered him. He'd walked down this hallway many times, and there was usually at least ten people standing around here, talking. Was there some sort of secret Valentine's Day event going on?

They both walked towards the cafeteria when they started to hear some noises. Human noises. Human yelling. Looking at each other like they knew what was going on; they both ran into there to see what all the commotion was coming from. But, Yoshiki already knew.

There the blue-haired Sakutaro was, fighting another student in the middle of the cafeteria. Crowds of people were in the cafeteria, watching the fight. There were also some juniors as well, girls and boys. Boy, he thought, the cafeteria was a popular place for a brawl. Where were the teachers when you need them?

"**What's that?**" the student fighting him teased. "**Your girlfriend who calls you 'Shige-nii' can't come save you know, can she?!**"

The mention of 'Shige-nii' appeared to make Sakutaro more enraged, and he lashed out at the bully. His right fist came lunging at the bully, who merely stepped aside. It was clear that Sakutaro had no fighting experience whatsoever, from what Yoshiki observed.

"**Shige-nii!**" cried Mayu.

At this, Sakutaro's expression looked a bit surprised and looked towards the direction of her cry, but he couldn't see him as the bully retaliated, hitting him with a right hook in the jaw. His glasses were knocked out and he was forcefully pushed back, hard. A sucker punch, thought Yoshiki. Sakutaro lay on the ground, clutching the area he was punched in.

"**Oh! Did I hear her call 'Shige-nii'? Little sisters wannabes are so dumb!**"

For some reason, Yoshiki couldn't stand to see this anymore. His face turned sullen and his eyes darkened. He left Mayu and started to walk towards the crowd, looking down with his eyes still looking ahead.

"**Wait, Kishinuma-kun!**"

But Yoshiki didn't listen to her.

"_**Wait, Onii-chan!**_" said a distant memory.

Her sister's words when she saw Yoshiki's face as he stormed out of the house on that day. His face probably looked exactly the same as that day, as he felt the same heat rising as well.

And for some reason, this bully pissed him off as much as his father did.

"**I bet she's too weak to save you anyway! HAHAHA!**"

Yoshiki kept pushing through the crowd, eager to reach this guy.

"**You know, nobody cares about you… you're just too anti-social.**"

His fists were clenched with anger, his adrenaline in overdrive.

"**I mean, what kind of pride do you have? You're all angry over me making fun of your name!**"

He cleared the front layers of the crowd, and was now only a running distance between the bully. His back was turned towards Yoshiki.

"**Nobody likes little sisters anyway. They're all like 'onii-chan'! It's so whiney!**"

With those words, Yoshiki straight up charged the bully. Although the bully was the same height as Yoshiki and was lean built, he had no trouble standing up to him. He put his right arm around him from behind and lifted himself off the ground, knocking him off balance. The bully fell down, and hit the ground with an audible _smack_.

Yoshiki pounced himself on the bully's torso and began punching him over and over again in rage. The face of his father flickers in the bully's face, causing his teeth to grit some more.

"**ISAO! You're FUCKING DEAD!**"

The boy's face started to get bruised more as he had no chance of fighting back, stunned and snuck on.

"**Whoa—you're fucking insane!**" he cried in fear.

"**FUCK YOU! DON'T YOU SAY A THING ABOUT MY SISTER!**"

"**DUDE, you got the wrong per—**"

Yoshiki ignored his words and kept punching, cutting off the boy's words and bruising him up some more. Then, four hands started to hold him back. Sakutaro and a teacher started pulling him away. The boy tried to get up, but had severe head trauma. He clutched his head and fell down, his concussion acting up.

"**Kishinuma… that's too much,**" said Sakutaro in disbelief.

They both carried Yoshiki down to the principal's office, still delusional and insane. He didn't care about anything except beating the crap out of his father.

_Beating the crap out of his father._

_Father?_

"**So, Kishinuma,**"

Yoshiki blinked, like he was out of a hypnotic state. He looked around, and he was in the principal's office. Sakutaro was next to him, a little glum looking. His glasses were visibly dented.

"**Why did you decide to… punch that student?**"

Yoshiki didn't have an answer, since his mind wasn't clear enough. He tried to recall the past few minutes.

_ISAO! You're FUCKING DEAD!_

"**It was in self-defense."**

The voice that came wasn't Yoshiki's, and it wasn't Morishige's. It was a girl's voice.

"**Self-defense?**"

Yoshiki turned to look at the source of the voice. It was Ayumi. Mayu's also appeared as well.

"**Yeah!**" said Mayu. "**He was protecting my Shige-nii!**"

"**I was being bullied,**" stated Sakutaro, "**and he… came to protect me.**"

The principal laid back a little, perplexed at the situation.

"**I see, but was causing a heavy concussion really necessary?**"

Sakutaro didn't answer, nor did Yoshiki or the girls. They all stood in stillness until the principal sat straight, looking at the notes he had written before.

"**Alright then… since witnesses claimed that the guy was in fact claiming to have made fun of your name… and the fact that committed violence first,** **I can lower the suspension period.**"

Sakutaro wiped a bead of sweat from his face. The two girls started to leave the room and closed the door.

"**Kishinuma, you were originally going to have twelve days, but I toned it down to five. You can stay here until the day is over. Morishige, you don't have any since you didn't attack him, directly at least.**" He scratched his head and typed into the computer. "**Of course, this won't go unnoticed by the school board. We'll have to notify both of your—**"

Yoshiki cringed for the last word.

"—**parents.**"

The principal dismissed them both and they bowed to the principal and left. Mayu and Ayumi were waiting outside.

Mayu was the first to get up and run towards them.

"**Don't worry. He only got a five day suspension while I got none.**"

Mayu pouted. "**Still, you have to be careful, Shige-nii. Kishinuma-kun too!**"

Yoshiki nervously smiled, and then moved her eyes at Ayumi. She looked a little hurt in her eyes, and a little nervous. When Ayumi met his eyes, she looked a little teary. She didn't talk much and continued to sit there. He wanted to stand up and go over to her… but he didn't want to.

"**Kishinuma,**" came Sakutaro's voice.

Yoshiki turned to face him.

"**Yeah?**"

"**Thanks… for back there.**"

"**Oh… no problem.**" He suddenly remembered what else happened today. "**Haha, I guess that's my birthday gift to you.**"

Sakutaro widened his eyes.

"**You actually knew…?**"

"**Uh… Suzumoto told me,**" said Yoshiki, looking away.

"**Heehee…**" she giggled.

Sakutaro held out his hand to Yoshiki. Yoshiki grabbed it, and then shook his hand.

"**Happy birthday, Morishige.**"

Sakutaro smiled, something Yoshiki rarely saw. Smiling was something that gave him warmth, and he was somewhat satisfied that he made someone happy.

But he still couldn't wipe that feeling away. Ayumi was still sitting there, looking strange.

* * *

When they were finished in the office, Yoshiki started to leave first while Sakutaro, Mayu and Ayumi left together.

"_...**you need to overcome your fears, Shinozaki.**_"**  
**

Those were Satoshi's words back at the mall. She remembered them clearly like he said it to her a few minutes ago. And, she was afraid of it, so she decided to take action.

She checked her phone—12:56. She was starting to leave when Mayu stopped her.

"**Where are you going, Shinozaki-san?**" said Mayu.

"**I need to go find Naomi.**"

Ayumi continued walking and reached her classroom, 1-3. She noticed Seiko walking out, most likely heading to the bathroom down the hall… Yoshiki wasn't that far down the hall, she thought.

She went over to Naomi who was seated at her desk.

"**Oh, hey, class rep. What's up?**"

Ayumi paced her head nervously around the room, making sure no one was listening.

"**Can you give me your chocolate from Seiko? I need it for someone.**"

Naomi opened her bag and took out her chocolate from Seiko, putting it on the desk.

"**Well… I'd feel bad for giving my gift from Seiko away… but sure. I mean… I'm not a guy… am I?**"

Ayumi laughed a little at her joke. Naomi did look kind of like a boy with her short hair, and tomboy attitude sometimes. But, she was a girl at heart. She took the chocolate from Naomi's bag and put it in her bag.

"**Thanks, Nakashima.**"

"**Yeah…**"

When Ayumi returned to her desk, the school bell rang, indicating fourth period was starting. Seiko returned to the class in time and sat at her desk, looking at Naomi before the next teacher rolled in for the next lesson.

Once fourth and fifth period was over, Ayumi was in a rush to leave the class. She packed up her textbooks and binders that she needed for homework and went over to 1-5, noticing the students pouring out from class. She waited until the blonde boy was visible.

"**Kishinuma-kun!**" she yelled to get his attention.

Yoshiki turned around and looked at Ayumi. He started to make his way over to her.

"**Yeah?**"

"**Come with me.**"

Ayumi led Yoshiki to under the staircase where she pulled out the chocolate from her bag.

"**Here… just as long as you stop fighting.**"

"**Huh?**" Yoshiki was surprised at Ayumi offering him chocolate. What did this mean?

"**Please… just stop fighting…**"

This wasn't a genuine handover of chocolate, he thought. It was just a plea for her own sanity, wasn't it? Was this for Yoshiki, or was it for herself?

He recalled the time when she was sitting in the office, her eyes looking fearful. Is she just… scared of him? Does she not trust him? Is this a way of getting him to change his ways, just for her sake? Did it pain her to see him like that, and pain _her_ only?

Sometimes, he thought Ayumi was selfish at times. Especially right now. This chocolate wasn't because she wanted to give it to him; it was because she _needed_ to give it to him.

"**I'm sorry, Shinozaki, but I can't take it.**"

"**Huh?**" Ayumi looked as shocked as Yoshiki did.

"**Give it to someone else you truly want to give it to. Not because of your own needs.**"

And with this, Yoshiki left Ayumi alone as he walked off.

This is probably the first time a boy has refused a Valentine's Day gift, she thought. But, like he said, this wasn't a genuine Valentine's Day gift, was it?

She didn't want to see Yoshiki fight anymore, and that's what she needed to keep her sanity. She couldn't stand seeing people fight and get hurt… it made her uncomfortable and trust people less.

But this gift wasn't meant for Yoshiki Kishinuma. It was only meant for his violent side.

Slapping herself, she realized what a selfish idiot she had been. Of course he would refuse. She walked out from under the stairs with her shoulders held low, when Naomi walked up to her.

"**Hey… you still have my chocolate.**"

"**Wait,**" said Seiko. "**Is that… my chocolate for you, Naomi?**"

Crap. Seiko found out, thought Ayumi.

"**Ohoho, it's ok,**" she said with a wink. "**I guess you love Shinozaki too, right?**"

_Too?_

"**N-n-nooooo, Seiko! I'm straight!**"

"**Haha… well, don't worry. I have more!**"

Seiko took another chocolate package from her bag. It was red and heart-shaped like any other. She gave it to Naomi.

"**Because I… Loove…. Yoouu!**" she said in English.

Seiko pounced on Naomi and began hugging her forcefully.

"**Ohaha, Seiko!** **Ok… just for today.**"

Naomi put her hands behind Seiko as well, acknowledging the gesture. She hugged Seiko harder.

Ayumi smiled. Seiko was a nice person, holding all those chocolates like that. If Ayumi remembered correctly, she gave it to every boy in her class, along with a few other random guys. That's what she was, a nice person.

Then who was Yoshiki? A violent person or a person genuinely concerned about his friends? She couldn't decide.

Soon, she went to art club, a little troubled from today's events. She started to draw random pictures of fists, and muscular boys. She couldn't think straight after today, too many things happened at once.

When the clock struck 5:30, she left the school and headed home. The chocolate meant for Naomi was in her hands. She can't help but feel guilty over taking Naomi's chocolate like that… she was pretty selfish, wasn't she? Taking someone's chocolates to give it to someone for them to stop doing something that made her nervous.

When she came home, she went to her room and put the chocolate she took from Naomi on the table. Was this really what she needed? She decided to rest her body and went to sleep on her bed, still in her school uniform.

_What did Seiko mean by 'too'?_

_The words came again._

"_**I guess you love Shinozaki too, right?**_"

_Who else liked her? Satoshi… or Yoshiki?_

_Impossible. It had to be Satoshi… but could it?_

* * *

Yoshiki left the shop at 9:30 PM, finishing his overtime shift. He checked his school bag on the way home, noticing the chocolate wasn't there. He remembered that he didn't take the chocolate from Ayumi.

As he walked around, he noticed Mayu and Sakutaro in front of them, walking down the street, still dressed in their school uniforms. If he had to guess, they were returning from school after drama practice. Yoshiki decided to talk to them.

"**Hey,**" he called out.

They both stopped and turned around. Mayu smile got larger when she saw Kishinuma while Sakutaro's was smaller, but nevertheless still smiling.

"**Hey, Kishinuma,**" said Sakutaro.

"**Hi, Kishinuma-kun!**" grinned Mayu.

"**So, about that fight today,**" began Yoshiki. "**I kinda… just went out of control when I saw that happening.**"

"**Oh, yeah. I would as well if I saw Mayu get bullied.**"

"**Well, he is like my brother, after all!**"

Mayu clung onto Sakutaro's arm and he blushed a little.

"**Thanks for saving my Shig!**"

"**Yeah, no problem,**" he mumbled.

"**Oh, uh, yeah,**" said Sakutaro awkwardly. "**So, uh, sorry for the trouble.**"

Yoshiki shrugged. "**Don't worry, I'm used to it.**"

"**Well, we need to go home now. Bye, Kishinuma.**"

"**Bye, Kishinuma-kun!**"

They both waved as they walked away in the darkness. Yoshiki waved back and watched them as they kept walking. Soon, they turned a corner. Yoshiki turned around and kept walking towards his apartment.

He pulled out his key and then put it in the lock. When he turned it, there wasn't a click at all. Instead, the door was unlocked. He opened and entered cautiously.

"**Welcome home, Onii-chan.**"

Miki was standing in the kitchen, greeting him with her soft voice. She was looking at Yoshiki and smiling. Her hair was in a ponytail as usual, and she seemed to be cooking something, stirring in a pan over a stove.

"**Miki? You're here again?**"

"**You know… your selfless little sister drops by just to make you dinner, and that's how you greet her?!**" she retorted, a little angry.

Yoshiki scratched his head, his face having bought a cheap grin. He took off his shoes and went into his living room, pulling out two seat cushion and put them next to each other. He sat cross legged on one of them and waited.

"**You've been eating your meals everyday, Onii-chan?**"

"**More or less, yeah.**" His eyes went over to the garbage can, a pack of instant noodles sticking out. "**Some pre-packaged convenience store food here, a school lunch there…**"

Miki stopped stirring to slap her face.

"**Just as I feared, then. You keep going like that and your health will slip in no time!**" She whipped her spatula in the air a little. "**Well, you sit tight; I'm making you a fine meal right now.**"

Miki kept stirring and adding in more ingredients into the pan.

"**What would you ever do without me?**"

Yoshiki didn't answer. What would he do without Miki? He started at her for a while. Where would his motivation for guitar would be without her, anyway? Where would the only person who offered him true sympathy be without her?

She was stirring for a while before she stopped and turned to face Yoshiki, who was still sitting, staring at Miki. She smiled at this, which Yoshiki did as well.

"**How's school going? I heard you've been hanging out with a boy named Mochida and a girl named Shinozaki. What kind of people are they?**"

Yoshiki scratched his face.

"**Well… Mochida's a really nice guy. He's helped me along with coping with the whole family situation.**" He scratched his arm slowly. "**And Shinozaki's the one who helped me stay in school.**"

Miki nodded and continued to cook, adding more ingredients to the pan.

"**You've met Mochida before, right?**"

"**Yeah.**" She added some beef into the pan. "**Through his sister. Oh yeah… he's your best friend, right? I remember now… I didn't really know him in person that much.**"

Yoshiki nodded, even though she couldn't see it.

"**Everything's not the same… living alone,**" he mumbled. "**I tell people I have to put up with it but… it's taking a toll on me.**"

He remembered the outburst that happened at school, when that person mentioned that little sisters are stupid.

"**Oh… everything's going to be okay.**" She turned to look at Yoshiki. "**I know it. Dad'll come around one of these days.**"

Yoshiki nodded, knowing she could see this time. She smiled again and turned back.

"**Just be patient okay, Onii-chan?**"

"**Yeah. I will.** **Thanks.**"

Her sister gave him hope once more. She gave him the will to fight, despite all the pain he feels inside. A will to fight every obstacle, outside and inside of himself.

Once she was done cooking, she put bowls of white rice on the table and poured the contents of the pan into a metal bowl. Then, she moved the bowl onto the table and sat down next to Yoshiki, putting her head on him.

"**Here you go,**" she said, pulling out a red, heart-shaped chocolate container.

Yoshiki didn't hesitate at all in taking it.

"**Thanks, Miki.**"

"**No problem!**" She faced the table and put her hands together. "**Itadakimasu!**"

Yoshiki did the same, putting his hands together. "**Itadakimasu.**"

"**C'mon, Onii-chan.**" She nudged Yoshiki in the ribs. "**Be a little more energetic around your little sister!**"

"**Itadakimasu**_**!**_" he enunciated.

"**That's more like it!**"

Her smile made Yoshiki feel warm and happy. He turned on the TV and they watched a random anime show. Yoshiki picked up some steak from the bowl and dipped it in sauce and popped it into his mouth. Miki was watching him closely to see his reaction.

"**This is really good!**"

She smiled. "**I knew you'd like my cooking!**"

Miki started to eat her she as well. When they were done with the meat and vegetables, they started using the soup from the bowl into their rice.

"**Reminds me of mom's cooking.**"

"**Oh, really?**"

Her eyes darkened a bit at the mention of their mother, which didn't go unnoticed. He frowned a little, but kept eating.

When all the soup and rice was finished, they started to clean up the dishes and washed them. When they were done, she went back to the table and laid back and lied on the cushion. Yoshiki sat next to her again and started to stroke her hair a little, turning off the TV.

"**Do you know why I'm here?**"

Yoshiki laughed. "**So that you can prevent me from dying from all the sodium in those instant noodles?**"

Miki laughed a little as well.

"**Well, yeah, that too. But, there's also another one…**" She sat up, looking into Yoshiki's eyes. "**It's about school… and what happened today.**"

Miki saw what he did, didn't she? She saw his handiwork… or maybe it was the call from the school. But, he soon understood without thinking much.

"**When our parents heard about it… dad started to get angry again. So… I kind of left to escape from the madness at home.**" She played with her own hair, while moving closer to Yoshiki.

"**...the way you talked about dad at school…**"

Yoshiki moved closer as well, and started to pull her into him. She wasn't crying...

"**Don't worry, everything's fine, like you said.**"

"**I know, I just… you'd do anything for me, Onii-chan. Anything.**"

_DON'T YOU SAY A THING ABOUT MY SISTER!_

His own words reverberated in his head, clear as day.

"**I know I would.**"

They were both still seated in his apartment, the night falling over outside. It felt like they've hugged each other forever.

"**I miss you...**" she murmured.

The windows turned a little darker, but she gave it a few more moments.

"**Well, it's time for me to go home.**" She started to pull away from him."**Hopefully things have cooled off.**"

"**Should I walk you home?**"

"**N-no no, it's fine. Really. I'll be okay...**"

Miki turned and grabbed her jacket, but turned to look at Yoshiki. Then, she kissed him on the cheek for a split second.

"**Stay safe, Onii-chan!**"

"**Yeah. See you around, Miki.**"

She waved as she closed the door.

Sighing, he went to his room carrying Miki's chocolate. He put it down on his work table and looked at it.

Even if he never fought, Ayumi probably wouldn't have given him the chocolate anyway. In fact, it probably made her more scared of him, he thought. But… if he never fought, her sister wouldn't have seen Yoshiki's gratitude for Miki at all.

He decided to overwrite the feelings for Ayumi. She didn't like him at all, did she? She only liked Satoshi. That was her only love, no one else. Of course, when high school is finished, his friends will probably move on. Ayumi will probably get together with Satoshi, and life will continue.

Life will move on.

Miki was her little sister. She was the only one that actively supported him, and actually cared about it. Besides Satoshi, of course. But, once he gets together with someone else, he'll probably move on and get a job. Move away from this town maybe and live somewhere else wealthier.

He lay on his bed, staring at the ceiling. He didn't get a lot of gifts for Valentine's, so he knew that the girls didn't really prefer him. They all go for Satoshi, don't they? And he doesn't know he's so popular.

Mayu's point of view proved different. She didn't see people as popular, since she viewed people as all the same. But, when parents kick people out of the house and they piss them off so much that they rebel against the world… well, that gave the right for people to call those people 'delinquents'. If that type of grouping was there, then he had the right to call people 'snobby popular rich fucks'. That's what most of the popular school population is like, anyway.

The doorbell rang, and he stood up from his bed, wondering who it could be. When he opened the front door, he looked at Satoshi standing there, bag in hand.

"**Yo, Yoshiki.**"

"**Hey, Satoshi.**"

Satoshi stepped into his apartment and took off his shoes. Then, he went over to the table and noticed the two cushions.

"**Two seat cushions?**"

"**My little sister was here.**"

Satoshi nodded. "**Oh, yeah. Miki, right?**"

"**Mmhmm.**"

Satoshi put the bag down on the table and reached his hands in it. There, he pulled out a bunch of chocolate packages. Yoshiki was a little irritated at this sight.

"**Sorry… couldn't finish all of this chocolate for myself. Thought I'd share some of it with you.**"

"**That's awfully nice of you, Satoshi…**"

There were six packages in total. This was Satoshi, alright

"**Hey… didn't you say you had a console lying around?**"

"**Oh, yeah. A PlayStation 2.**"

Yoshiki went over to the TV cabinet and opened the door. Satoshi went over to select from the list of games. He eventually picked _Rogue Trip: Vacation 2012._

As the load screen loaded, he kept thinking about his life. Has he changed since school started? He looked at Satoshi, who didn't change one bit. He was still the same person: coward-ish but with a regard for his friends and the people he cared about. Ayumi was still obsessed with the occult… and Satoshi.

Yoshiki didn't change at all. He still has that instinct to beat up people. He didn't accept Ayumi's chocolate, because he knows he can't change from that nature. He can add to his personality, but he can't remove from it.

He realized that from the beginning, he hasn't changed at all. He's still a delinquent. Who else gets suspended from school for five days? The only things that changed are the new friends he had… people still called him cold and heartless when he stated the truth about situations.

That's what the world will be: afraid. Afraid of the truth. Ayumi's afraid of the truth of Yoshiki's past. But, what does she know about that girl? For all he knew, she's probably afraid of her _own_ past.

Just like he is afraid of his own past.

He wasn't any different from Ayumi when he was fighting back then. That was for his own good. He was relieving his anger against his father, without any second thoughts.

And that scared him.


	12. Chapter 12

There was a long sigh as she woke up from her bed. She stood up and walked over to the mirror, noticing her flowing, long blue hair hanging straight down her back from her head and onto her blue pyjamas. She looked over at the calendar on her desk, which read _Friday, March 21, 2008_. It basically was the last day of school before spring break. The clock read 9:27 AM. School started later on this day, since it was the last day.

Ayumi stretched for a while before exiting her room to go to the bathroom upstairs. There, she started to brush her teeth. After she was done, she washed her face and then did her hair, getting two hair ties and tying them off to make two tails that hung down from her front shoulders. She smiled in the mirror.

She went out the bathroom and down the stairs to the kitchen to eat breakfast. There was already rice porridge ready for two people made by her mother, Asuka.

"**Good morning, Ayumi.**"

"**Morning, mom.**"

Her mother left the room and Ayumi sat down at her chair and put her hands together to mutter a quick "itadakimasu" before picking up her spoon. She looked around in the kitchen cooking space, and then at the stove that had something boiling in one of the pots. Then, she looked at the door since she heard it open.

"**Morning, Ayumi,**" yawned Hinoe.

"**Oh, morning, Hinoe!**"

Hinoe sat down next to Ayumi and began eating her rice porridge.

"**So, last day of your first year, eh?**"

Ayumi stopped the spoon short of entering her mouth.

"**Mhm.**"

Hinoe laughed for a short while.

"**You going to run for class rep again next year?**"

"**Oh, yeah. I just hope people will elect me.**"

Ayumi was soon done with her porridge and then she stood up from her chair to go to her room. There, she changed out of her pyjamas and into the school uniform, which was now the usual tan sailor outfit. The winter uniform schedule changed out around the first of March.

She grabbed her school bag in her room and walked out of her room. The last day of school meant that the day was shorter. She walked to the living room and noticed her mom watching TV. There was a random news channel on.

"**I'm off,**" she said.

"**Have fun!**"

Ayumi walked to the front and changed into her outdoor shoes. Then, she headed out the door and out the gate. She turned right and started to walk up the street towards the school.

She was actually excited for next year of high school, actually. She hoped she would get a teacher that wasn't as horrible as all the other she had at the four years in Kisaragi. There was also the shuugaku ryokou (school excursion) to look forward to. Also, she wondered what next year's class line-up would she be in. She hoped she was with Satoshi…

She looked behind her and noticed Yoshiki wasn't there. She checked her phone, 9:57. She hoped he wasn't going to be skipping this. Especially since he skipped the entrance ceremony. Sure, his attendance went up a little, but he still skipped a lot.

She cut through a narrow alleyway to reach the school. There, she saw Naomi and Seiko walking together.

"**Morning Nakashima-san, Shinohara-san!**"

They turned around and stopped walking to smile at Ayumi.

"**Morning, Shinozaki!**" they both said in unison.

Ayumi caught up with them and they walked to school together.

"**Have you seen Kishinuma-kun?**" she asked.

"**Kishinuma? No, I haven't seen him at all these past few days.**"

Ayumi was a little disappointed.

"**Oh, ok.**"

Ayumi looked at Seiko, who was cheery as usual. But, she felt something… odd about her. It was the same feeling, two years ago in junior high. She decided not to dwell on it so much. Their smiles in general were a little weary than usual.

"**Something wrong?**" asked Ayumi.

Naomi put her both of her hands up to wave them in front of her.

"**Oh, no... no. It's just been… a long year, that's all.**"

"**I see.**"

The school started to come into view. They kept walking in silence, but it was an odd one at that. They were usually talkative from what Ayumi could recall.

The banner was spread over the arch of the school gate, reading "29th Closing and Graduation Ceremony."

"**This place looks just like last year,**" said Naomi.

Seiko looked around and then she snickered, and then it turned into a giggle.

"**Huh? Seiko? What's so funny?**"

"**Hi, Naomi!**" came Satoshi's voice.

Naomi looked around and then looked at Satoshi, who was dressed in his usual white school uniform and walking along with Yoshiki. Satoshi was waving as he walked towards the group of three, while Yoshiki had his hands in his pockets.

"**Hey, Satoshi and Kishinuma.**" She waved back at the two.

Ayumi turned her head at the mention of Yoshiki. There he was, the blonde hair male student. At least he showed up this time, she thought.

Naomi was staring at Satoshi as he talked to Yoshiki about something. Then, Seiko looked at her and giggled again.

"**Your **_**chest**_** looks just like last year,**" remarked Seiko.

"**Yeah… my chest…**"

Naomi seemed to be in a trance watching Satoshi talk. Then, she shook her head and realized what she just said.

"**Wait... what did you just make me say, Seiko?!**"

Naomi grabbed Seiko's cheeks and squished them. Ayumi giggled herself at the sight while the two guys noticed and laughed a little as well.

She turned her gaze towards the graduating seniors, and some of the guys were giving girls the buttons on their uniform. Crushes, eh...

They all walked to their classrooms for their homeroom. The report cards were going to go out soon, and Ayumi hoped she had good scores. She did do well on the exams that came up throughout the school year.

* * *

She went to her classroom, 1-3, and sat down at her desk. The time passed and then the bell rang at 10:25. Mr. Yamada walked into the room carrying a package. Then, he opened it and took out all the envelopes containing the final report cards. The final mark was determined by the average of all three term grades. The class uttered an excited squeal.

"**So, you're to take these to show to your parents over the break and then bring them back next year.**"

He started to hand out the envelopes. He eventually reached Ayumi and gave her the report card. Ayumi was pretty crazy and almost tore it open as she took the paper from inside out.

The scores read all straight A's… except for Physical Education. Of course, that teacher. Tsubota… a poor excuse for a teacher. He didn't care about effort; all he was looking for was consistent results in his class. Nevertheless, her grade in PE was a mere C+.

She looked over at Naomi and Seiko who were comparing their own grades. Naomi looked a bit disappointed but Seiko still looked as carefree as ever. Ayumi was glad that they were normal, again.

She started to wonder about Satoshi's and Yoshiki's grades. Satoshi was a fairly above average student from what Ayumi remembered… but Yoshiki? He seemed like someone who would be around the C area. But, well, she still hoped he passed. She started to think back to the time at Valentine's Day…

'_**Give it to someone else you truly want to give it to. Not because of your own needs.**_'

She shook her head and terminated the thought, and noticed that it was time for the assembly for the closing ceremony in the auditorium. The class stood up and followed Mr. Yamada to the auditorium.

Once they reached the auditorium, she noticed that there were some graduation decorations getting set up for the graduation ceremony after the graduates had their special lunch. For the first and second years, school ended by lunchtime; this means that they had to go buy their own lunch or go home for lunch instead of using the school cafeteria.

The seniors were seated at the back of the auditorium, some of them excited and happy to be leaving school. They would go on to be doctors, engineers, musicians—basically what they wanted. Ayumi wanted to be an artist, and seeing them graduate gave her some more motivation.

She noticed the podium on the stage along with a piano. There were also some speakers and lights set up, which some of them were probably going to be used during the graduation ceremony. She recognized some of the layouts from the graduation ceremony back in junior high.

Her class started to be seated with all the other first years near the front of the gym. Then, the second years started to pour into the auditorium and then a voice came over the speakers.

"**All students, rise.**"

The entire auditorium stood up. Then, the principal, dressed in a suit, started to walk to the podium and take the microphone from the announcer. He started to deliver his speech, addressing the farewell to the seniors and to bless them a good life in the real world. Then, he went on to acknowledge the staff that were leaving Kisaragi and also announce new ones.

There were also some other speeches by students, including the student council president, Hanzo Matsuki. He was a senior was well, so he was going to be leaving this school. There would be an election next year for the next president, and Ayumi wouldn't want to be a candidate. Too much work, she thought.

The ceremony was soon over after some time and all the students bowed to the front before leaving the auditorium. Ayumi went over to the front gate and noticed some junior high schoolers in the crowd of high schoolers as well. Their ceremony probably ended around the same time the high schoolers had theirs.

She went back to her classroom to get her bag. Naomi and Seiko weren't there, so they're probably outside already. The clock in the classroom read 12:02 PM. She walked out the classroom and went to the entrance area to change her shoes.

After changing, she went outside and looked around for a while before spotting the familiar blonde hair of Yoshiki. She made his way over to him and noticed that he was with Satoshi, hands stuck in his pockets. Naomi and Seiko were also with them.

"**Hi, Shinozaki! We were looking you,**" said Naomi, smiling."**Mind joining us for lunch?**"

"**Oh, not at all!**"

Ayumi joined the group and they started to walk out of the school together, trying to find a restaurant. They eventually stopped in a sushi bar not too far away and entered, finding a table.

"**Man, that was pretty boring!**" sighed Naomi as she sat down.

Satoshi sat across from her, Yoshiki next to him. They were flipping through the menu.

"**Still,** **I wonder how next year will be like,**" mumbled Satoshi.

Seiko sat next to Naomi and nodded.

"**Mhm...**"

Ayumi sat down next to Naomi and looked through the menu. They started to place their orders to the waiter and then waited.

"**Hey,**" began Satoshi,"**while we wait, why don't we compare our report card scores?**"

"**Not a bad idea,**" mentioned Naomi. She started to pull out her report card from her bag. "**I did pretty… eh.**"

Seiko took hers out as well, looking at Naomi's as well.

"**Too bad you went smaller…**" giggled Seiko.

"**Smaller?**"

Seiko pointed a finger on Naomi's report card and snickered.

"**You went from a C to a B!**"

"**Seiko! They're different! And besides, I'm a D—**"

Naomi shut her own mouth, realising that she was about to say her bust size in front of everyone here.

She has a D cup, doesn't she, Ayumi thought. She noticed Satoshi scratching his head, blushing a little. Why does she feel jealous about this situation? Still, she looked at Seiko again. Although she was smiling and joking around like usual, it did seemed a little more forced than usual.

"**What about you, Satoshi?**" said Naomi.

"**Me?**" He started to pull his report card out too. "**Well… not bad.**"

Naomi took the paper from his hands.

"**Oh, I see! C's and B's? And you got one A as well!**"

Seiko leaned in to whisper something in Naomi's ear, and then Naomi looked back at her own scores. She started to blush a little.

"**What I was saying,**" announced Seiko,"**is that these were the sizes Moc—**"

Naomi covered Seiko's mouth with her own hand.

"**That's enough, Seeeikooo…!**"

The waiter came back with the orders: rice balls, sushi and fried rice. Yoshiki took his rice balls while Satoshi took his fried rice. The girls took their sushi.

Naomi picked up a sushi roll with some chopsticks, but stopped to ask something.

"**And what about you, Shinozaki?**"

"**Me?! Oh, uh…**"

Ayumi took her report card out of her school bag and showed it to them, thought a little reluctant.

"**Wow! Straight A's!**"

It's too bad _that's_ my bust size, she thought in despair.

"**And you, Kishinuma?**"

Yoshiki took the report card out of his bag and showed it to everyone.

"**Oh,**" said Ayumi. "**Just C's, huh?**"

"**I guess.**"

Ayumi was glad that at least he was able to pass the classes. Maybe everything will go well for him later on. Hopefully, everything goes well. His face looked a little disappointed, though.

Yoshiki was finished with his rice balls and started to stand up.

"**Well… I gotta go to my part time job now. See you guys later.**"

"**Oh, bye Yoshiki!**" said Satoshi.

"**See ya, Kishinuma-kun,**" said Ayumi happily.

Yoshiki left the restaurant and the others continued eating their lunches.

"**Hey, Shinozaki, have you picked your electives yet?**"

* * *

They started to finish up and paid the bill. Then, they went out of the restaurant. Ayumi checked her phone, and it was 12:37.

"**Well, I need to check on my siblings now,**" said Seiko, leaving.

"**Oh yeah, I had something to do at home,**" mentioned Naomi, leaving as well.

"**Guess I'll see you later, Mochida-kun.**"

Ayumi started to leave, too.

"**Yeah. See you, Shinozaki.**"

She was walking for a bit before looking behind her, at Satoshi. He was still as faithful like she remembered from the first time that they met…

She turned her head forward and kept walking towards her house, but bumped into a woman.

"**Oh, I'm sorry!**" the woman said.

"**No, it's ok...**"

Ayumi took a good look at her. She had short, brown hair and purple eyes. She also had some cyan earrings on. She had a panda necklace around her neck and was dressed in a white blazer that was buttoned up. Her feet were in black high heels.

"**You're from school right? Kisaragi?**"

"**Oh, uh, yeah?**"

"**Ahaha… I can tell by your uniform… Well, I need to get going now. I was supposed to get there half an hour ago...**"

She watched as the woman started walking by Ayumi and down the street. Was she a new teacher? She didn't look like anyone she recognized from the faculty staff, so that was probably the case. The closing ceremony did bid farewell to a couple of teachers...

She continued walking until she reached her home. Once she was in her house, she went into her room and changed out of her school uniform and into a casual outfit of a red hoodie and blue jeans. Then, she walked out into the living room with her phone in pocket.

Her parents weren't at home, neither was Hinoe, so she went back to her room to get her keys. Then, she went to the front door and exited the house.

Ayumi started to walk towards the shopping center since she needed to get some school supplies for next year. Walking down the street, she walked by the convenience store and then reached the center a few blocks away.

She entered and found the department store. She entered and bought a few notebooks, pencils, erasers, and other miscellaneous items. She also picked up some candles on her way out.

She checked the items out and then grabbed the bags that she packed them into and started to walk towards home. When she arrived, she unlocked the door with the keys and looked in the living room. Hinoe was sitting on the couch, talking on the phone to someone. She looked at Ayumi and smiled before resuming to talk with her client.

Ayumi went into her room and looked at the clock. It was 1:05. She put the bags on her table, which didn't have its white tablecloth on since it was in the laundry. She took out the candles from the bag and looked at them. Candles… that reminded her of something...

* * *

Ayumi looked in the mirror in her room. She smiled at the sight of the blue smock she was wearing. The collar on the dress had a pink bow on it. She put on some white mid-calf socks, picked up her school bag and exited the bathroom.

When she walked out into the hallway, Hinoe started to approach her. She put something in her hands and she looked at the lighter that Hinoe gave her.

"**What's this for?**" she asked.

"**It's a special lighter for your candles,**" replied Hinoe, smiling.

Ayumi inspected the lighter more closely. There was a symbol engraved into the lighter… a candle.

"**Isn't this just a normal lighter?**"

Hinoe shook her head.

"**No, no… like I said, it's special. You'll see, later on.**"

Ayumi nodded and put the candle into her smock pocket.

"**Thanks, Hinoe.**"

"**You go off to school now. It's your first day in junior high, isn't it?**"

Ayumi smiled. "**Yeah!**"

She walked to the front door and changed her shoes. She waved at Hinoe on her way out, and then she closed the door.

She went out the gate and then turned right to head to the school. She was excited for the first day in junior high. Most of her friends from elementary were going to a different school, so she hoped that she might see some familiar faces. Probably not, though.

She looked at the phone for the time. 8:04. Hopefully, she won't be late for the first day. But, the school soon came into view, and she smiled knowing that she reached it on time.

The banner on the school gate read "25th Entrance and Opening Ceremony." She started to walk into the school front yard and noticed that there were a lot of windows on the school building. The school was absolutely huge. There were some girls and boys in different uniforms outside as well. Were there two schools here?

There were two different main looking entrances, so she was confused about which one to enter. In the middle of deciding, a boy bumped into her.

"**Sorry!**"

Ayumi looked to the right to see a boy dressed in a black gakuran with yellow buttons. He also had black pants on. His short hair was brown, and his eyes were brown as well. He looked pretty light built.

"**O-oh… it's ok.**"

He scratched his head. "**Are you new here, too?**"

"**Mhm. I don't know where to go.**"

"**Ok then. Well, my name's Mochida Satoshi.**" He did a quick bow to Ayumi.

"**Shinozaki Ayumi.**" She bowed back at Satoshi.

"**Okay, Shinozaki-san, let's find the entrance…**"

Ayumi followed the boy as he approached a walking girl dressed in a similar uniform to Ayumi's. She had short brown hair, like Satoshi's. She also had black socks. When Satoshi tapped her for attention, Ayumi noticed that she had brown eyes as well. She kind of looks like Satoshi, thought Ayumi.

"**Huh? Hello… um…**" stammered Satoshi.

Both Satoshi and the girl were a little fazed by their appearances. They really did look pretty much alike, so Ayumi understood it would be natural for them to be confused.

"**O-oh… uh, hello.**"

"**Hey… umm, my name is Mochida Satoshi…**" He bowed quickly, faster than how he bowed to Ayumi.

"**And I'm Nakashima Naomi…**" She bowed slowly before returning her posture.

They both stood there, staring at each other. Then, they both started laughing.

"**HAHAHA! I thought I was looking at myself in the mirror there!**" said Naomi.

"**OHAHA, yeah!**" said Satoshi, calming himself down. "**Although…**"

Ayumi noticed Satoshi's eyes moving down to her chest and then moving back up quickly again. Naomi was still giggling with her eyes closed, so she didn't notice. Really now, Satoshi, thought Ayumi.

"**Although… what?**" asked Naomi, calming down as well.

"**N-nothing.**"

"**Hehhh?**" she asked, a smirk appearing on her face.

"**So, do you know the way, Nakashima-san?**"

Naomi nodded. "**Yeah, I was walking towards it before you came.**" She turned to face Ayumi. "**Oh, you're with him?**"

"**Mmh, yeah. I'm Shinozaki Ayumi.**"

"**Okay, nice to meet you.**"

The three started to walk towards the entrance of the left wing. There were two wings, she thought. She guessed one was for the junior high and the other was for the senior high.

As they entered, they looked for a shoe locker to change shoes and then went over to the bulletin boards. There were lists saying the homerooms for each year. Ayumi noticed that she was in 1-2.

"**Hey, Shinozaki-san. We both have the same room,**" mentioned Satoshi.

"**Oh, cool!**"

She looked over at Naomi, who was still looking.

"**Shame… I'm in 1-6. And we only just met.**"

Satoshi smiled.

"**Don't worry, Nakashima-san, we can still meet during break and lunch.**"

"**Yeah… well—**" Naomi pulled out her phone to check the time. "**—it's 8:17. I think we should get to homeroom.**"

"**Okay, bye now,**" said Ayumi.

"**Bye bye! See you guys at lunch!**"

Ayumi and Satoshi started to head towards their homeroom.

"**So, Shinozaki-san… what school did you come from?**"

"**Kumiko Elementary School, from the other side of town.**"

"**Oh… I'm from Hokkaido, which is nearby."**

Once they reached their homeroom, they walked inside. They waited until 8:25, when school started. Then, their homeroom teacher entered the class.

"**Hello class,**" he started. "**My name is Akimoto Akira.**" He wrote his name on the board. "**I'll be the teacher for you guys for the rest of the year.**"

He picked up papers and a box from his desk and prepared hand them out.

"**These are your school schedules, textbook sheets, and also your student IDs.**" He took out an ID from the box. "**Arira Hiroshi?**"

After the IDs and forms were handed out to the students, they started to go into the gym for the opening ceremony. After that was done, it was lunchtime.

Ayumi took her lunchbox from her bag and looked for Satoshi. She noticed he was at his desk, putting away some papers.

"**Hey, Mochida-kun, let's go!**"

"**Okay, okay, just wait.**"

He finished up, took his lunchbox out and began to walk with Satoshi to find the school's cafeteria. As they walked, they noticed other students starting to walk out of their class as well. They eventually ended up in an empty classroom.

"**Mochida-kun… do you know where the cafeteria is?**"

Satoshi put on a lazy smile.

"**Hahahaheh… I don't actually.**"

Ayumi looked at him in the eye with a look that said "are you serious?" He looked a little frightened at her glare, and she smirked a little. Just a little.

"**D-don't blame me. I was following you! And I thought we had a map, too...**"

"**Oh, yeah...?**"

She snickered and then started to walk towards the door sliding it closed.

"**W-what are you doing?**"

She turned off the lights and closed the blinds. The room was basically pitch black by then.

"**Shinozaki?!**"

Then, she pulled out a candle from one of her pockets and put it down. She went down on her knees and took out her lighter and lit the candle, emitting a little bit of light in the dark classroom.

"**Hey, Mochida-kun… have you ever heard the story of Koharo-san of the toilet?**"

Satoshi went down on his knees as well.

"**The toilet?!**"

Ayumi laughed a little, and then she laughed even more. Satoshi appeared more and more frightened at the fact that she was about to tell a scary, scary story. The atmosphere was all set up for it, too. She noticed his expression in the candlelight, and she thought he was kind of cute…

"**If you go to the third floor and go to the third stall of the bathroom,**" she whispered, "**you first knock on the door and ask, 'Are you there, Koharo-san?**'."

Satoshi's teeth were visibly grinding against each other in fear as she whispered.

"**And then… if you hear the words,**"—she started to lean very close to Satoshi's ear—"**'Yes, I'm here,' then… you can open the door and you will see…**"

The door of the classroom suddenly slid open, letting all the light in and breaking the mood.

"**I finally found you guys!**" yelled Naomi. She was panting heavily. "**Geez, I had to ask around you guys and—**"

Naomi stopped talking when she noticed how close Ayumi was to Satoshi's ear. Ayumi quickly jerked back and blew out the candle. Satoshi was blushing mad like crazy.

"**What were you two doing in here…?**" Naomi looked a little angry.

Ayumi waved her hands. "**Nothing, nothing! Just telling a story!**"

The next voice that came was foreign.

"**My, my! At this age already?**"

A girl with her hair in two girls above her shoulders entered the room. She had brown eyes and was wearing the same uniform as Naomi and Ayumi. Her smile looked a little like a cat's. Ayumi felt a little embarrassed, and so did Satoshi.

"**Oh, this is Shinohara Seiko. We both met in class.**"

"**Nice to meet you!**"

They both went to sit down with them, pulling out their own lunch boxes.

"**I guess we're having lunch here, then?**" asked Naomi.

"**I guess,**" said Ayumi, her voice drifting off.

She stared at the candle. The same kind of warmth when she saw Satoshi for the first time… even though she didn't trust most guys…

* * *

Ayumi smiled at the past memories. Although, the lighter from Hinoe was gone. She lost it around graduation from junior high. She didn't really know what happened to it. She frowned at little at the thought of losing Hinoe's gift.

Still, she bought a replacement lighter later on. She wondered if anyone picked it up, or it was kicked under a table and got swept up by the custodian. But, who in the school would use a lighter, anyway?

The clock in her room showed it was around 1:10. She sighed and looked around her room. What is she going to be doing next year? There were only a few electives courses, but she chose art as one of the choices.

That's right; her future was going to be centered on being an artist. And she was determined to be one. Her dream? To make a cover for one of Naho Saenoki's books. She's been updating her website a lot with various topics about the paranormal and occult related stuff, which Ayumi is interested in.

Smiling, she went over to her laptop to look on the blog to see if there were any new entries.

* * *

Yoshiki looked up from his cleaning routine of the floors. His job also involved janitorial work.

"**A new guitar, huh?**" said the cashier.

"**Yes, for the school, Kisaragi.**"

The music teacher, Teruo Yamamoto, was at the cashier's desk. On the desk was a guitar—a white American Vintage Stratocaster from '56—and a Marshall combo amplifier.

"**Our department has run dry on ideas for musical instruments, so I said, 'why not get a guitar?'.**"

Yoshiki smiled. At least school was getting a guitar. He chose music as his elective, so he's going to get the benefit from that. Although, there was only one guitar, so there would be only one guitarist if there was a jazz band or something like that.

But, really, he thought of playing the guitar as a hobby most of the time. It could evolve into a future job, but it would probably be a little while until he could find some band mates to play with. This is what he would probably do if he was serious about it, but he wasn't so sure about being a full-time guitarist.

He watched as he paid for the two items and then left the store.

"**Hey, Kishinuma,**" said the cashier. "**You go to Kisaragi, right?**"

Yoshiki looked at the cashier.

"**Yeah. Going into second year.**"

"**Oho, second year. That's where the fun begins!**"

Yoshiki nodded and laughed a little before returning back to work. Next year was going to be "fun," eh? Probably. He could at least brighten up a little.

And his feelings for Ayumi? He couldn't just… bottle them up and keep them there forever. Unless, he would invite misery to finish the last sip of it. He still liked her, even if she was selfish and liked Mochida-kun. He'll prove that he cares about her.

That feeling wasn't going to go unnoticed. But, really, he hasn't changed. He's still the same guy that liked Ayumi Shinozaki. What did she like about Satoshi, anyway? Sure, he's popular, but Mayu said that popularity doesn't mean much to her. So, Ayumi might believe in the whole popularity is good thing.

Or maybe there's a different reason entirely. It's been a year and he's noticed that Ayumi doesn't really trust boys that much, including Yoshiki. She's scared of them sometimes, it seems.

He moved the bucket to another area and continued mopping. Satoshi liked Naomi, he could already tell before. He'll find that reason soon, alright. There's obviously a reason about why she would have that much faith in him.

But, honestly, he questioned about what he should be feeling. What does he know about love? Being shelled up in a cave for his whole life, throughout junior high and even elementary. Even his parents got sick of him and stopped showing him "love," but that kind was pretty much unconditional.

It was because Ayumi had faith in him at that moment. The moment she stepped in to stop him from punching his PE teacher. Or maybe she's just nice. _Very_ nice.

He decided to keep those feelings bottled up for a while until he sees an opportunity to open them. He did feel a little jealous of Satoshi, but he already likes someone else. He doubted that he knew that Ayumi liked him.

Wouldn't it be nice to watch high school drama, he thought.

* * *

Even though school hasn't started yet (Vancouver Teachers' Strike), I have no motivation. Yet, I wrote this.  
Don't be surprised if it seems more half-assed than usual


	13. Chapter 13

The alarm clock pierced his ears as it went off, his fists grudgingly moving towards to silence it. After the ringing stopped, he scratched his blonde hair and sat up from his bed. He opened his eyes and took a look at the alarm clock, which read 7:30 AM. Looking around, he noticed the morning sunlight coming through the window, shimmering on the plain, grey ceiling.

Yoshiki put his legs on the floor and stretched a little. Then, he stood up and went over the calendar. Today was the start of the new trimester at Kisaragi, he thought. _Monday, April 7th, 2008._

The thought of a new school year was… exciting, to say the least. It meant that better things awaited him, especially with this new group of friends he found out. He looked at his pajamas before entering the bathroom to brush his teeth and wash his face.

After all that was finished and he was done his breakfast, he put on a red shirt, and then the white Kisaragi uniform on top. He buttoned it up about four-fifths of the way and then put the dark grey Kisaragi gakuran on top, unbuttoned. Then, he finished dressing up with grey pants and walked over to the mirror in his room.

Slowly, he gazed at the reflection. The boy with bleached blonde hair, eyes slanted downwards while maintaining a sense of unease.

The eyes of his father.

He never looked really happy… but maybe this year will change things. Yes, he thought, this year will probably bring some positive changes in his life.

Looking around his room for his bag, he took it and then headed out the front door. After he locked it, he walked down the walkway. Taking a look around from the elevated position, the parking lot had a few cars parked in it. The sound of roaring engines from a plane in the sky caught his attention as well.

He reached the staircase and descended down to the ground floor. Then, he set foot on the sidewalk that led to the school.

It was spring, and it looked like there was a lot of pink snow on the ground as he walked. Pink snow, from the blossoming sakura trees that were in the swath of grass patches on the sidewalk. It felt alluring, but this sight was eventually overshadowed by the temperature. Although it was spring, it was still a little chilly.

He recalled the first day of senior high, when he was trying to catch up for time by running. There wasn't any point in running, as a ten minute walk to the school wouldn't be as bad. Besides, what's the rush? Might as well enjoy the view, he thought.

His own footsteps continued to come through into his ears as he closed his eyes. Apart from the occasional vehicle cruising on the adjacent road, it was pretty much silent. It felt peaceful, like the rooftop as school where he could reflect on things. He opened his eyes to see that he was approaching a crosswalk, so he waited.

After a few more blocks of walking, the sounds of the school were audible. The sounds of the clubs beckoning freshmen and other students alike to join their ranks. The sight of the massive academy came to view as well. He kind of wished the school had some sort of dormitory, so he wouldn't have to worry as much about the rent of his apartment.

The banner that went across the gate read, "29th Opening and Entrance Ceremony." Walking through the school gate, the congregation of clubs were now visible, with the voices and chatter increasing in volume and frequency. They made a crowd that surrounded a path into the school's main entrance. There were two different crowds actually: one for the juniors and seniors. The fact that this place was basically two schools in one facility made the noise level significantly louder.

There were a few people lost looking people around, trying to find their way into school but intimidated by the huge crowds. He didn't really stop to help any of them, since he didn't really have any obligation to do so. He wasn't exactly the type of go out of his way for random people. He didn't have much trouble finding the right wing at the beginning of junior high and senior high, so he figured people should just be strong and find it themselves.

* * *

After wading through the advertising group of people on his way into the main entrance, he soon realized that indoors offered no escape from the crowded atmosphere. But, these crowds were for a different intent, and that was to see which homeroom they were in.

Yoshiki made a straight beeline for the class list of 2-9, confident that he would find the names he was looking for there. And he was right.

_Yoshiki Kishinuma, Ayumi Shinozaki, Naomi Nakashima, Satoshi Mochida, Seiko Shinohara, Mayu Suzumoto and Sakutaro Morishige._ The teacher's name was Hajime Yamazaki, with the teacher's assistant being Yui Shishido.

He couldn't help but smile a bit at the result of his actions. Although, they were quite perilous, his old homeroom teacher bailed him out when he found him in the main office. He made his way onto the second floor to the classroom that awaited their arrival.

The time on his phone read 8:03, and homeroom was at 8:25, so he did have plenty of time. And then, he arrived at the classroom with the sign overhead reading 2-9.

Stepping in calmly, he caught sight of his best friend, Satoshi, who was seated in the second row. On Satoshi's right was Naomi, who had Seiko on the opposite side. Yoshiki decided to sit on Satoshi's left, which was the end of the row.

The chalkboard had the current date and the teachers' name on the board.

"**Oh, heya, Yoshiki!**" called out Satoshi, waving to him.

Yoshiki waved back and made his way to his desired desk.

"**Yo.**"

After taking a seat and hanging his bag, he looked around the classroom for the other people. Ayumi was seated behind Satoshi, diagonal to where Yoshiki was seated. At this, he snickered a little, which Ayumi didn't notice.

He fished around with his eyes some more until he caught sight of the drama club duo. Sakutaro was seated in the corner of the room on Yoshiki's side, with Mayu next to him. At least they seem to be having it nice back there, he thought. Mayu caught Yoshiki staring and a smile and wave broke out. He couldn't help but return it.

He faced Satoshi again, who was currently socializing with Naomi. After getting Satoshi's attention, however, he turned around and starts to talk with Yoshiki.

"**So, how are you holding up?**" asked Satoshi, sorting through his schoolbag.

"**Fine, I guess. Not much happened over the spring break.**"

"**I see, I see…**" Satoshi started to lean closer to Yoshiki to whisper something. "**We need to finish that game soon... Rogue Trip, right?**"

Yoshiki nodded. "**I guess… since we only got to the Neon Nightmare level.**"

They continued talking for a while before the clock struck 8:25 and the school bell rang, signalling the start of the homeroom period. Satoshi regained his body posture and sat back straight in his desk. Yoshiki did the same as well, and then two figures stepped into the room.

The one that entered first was an older man, his grey hair balding a little. He had a pair of glasses on, and facial hair that surrounded his mouth and outlined his chin. He also had a light brown jacket on with some more clothing underneath, along with his blue trousers... From Yoshiki's judgement, he looked to be in his late fifties. He identified him as Hajime Yamazaki.

The other person was a young woman, who was identified as Yui Shishido. So young, in fact, that she looked like she just walked out of college. Her brown hair was short, with pink eyes that were the more or less the same shade of colors like the sakura blossom petals he saw this morning. She was dressed in a pink blazer with a pink shirt, with a blue skirt. She also had necklace, but at this distance, Yoshiki couldn't see the details. It looked black and white, though.

Mr. Yamazaki stood at the teacher's podium while Yui stood next to him, smiling. Yoshiki started to look around the class and noticed Ayumi's eyes growing wide a little. It looked like she was a little surprised, but Yoshiki shrugged it off.

For Ayumi, however, she recognized her as the woman from the last day of their first year. She had never seen Yui around before, so she must be a new teacher.

"**Hello, everybody,**" began Yamazaki. "**I congratulate you on reaching the second year of high school. Think about it! You're one year away from graduation now.**"

He walked off the podium and faced towards the window, looking at the sight below of all the blossoms before turning his body to face the class again.

"**My name is Yamazaki Hajime,**"—he gestured towards the woman—"**and this is Yui Shishido, the TA.**"

She gave a small, but slightly nervous wave at the class. The response was a little slow, and it also seems like the class isn't paying much attention to the teachers as well. Her body language showed that she was fairly nervous, hands playing with her short hair.

"**We're going to be your teachers for your second year in high school. Don't hesitate to ask us if you have any questions.**"

Yamasaki started to walk back to his podium and picked up a bunch of papers. Then, he carefully walked over to the rightmost row and counted the papers.

"**These papers that I'm handing out are your student ID sheets,**" he mentioned, putting a smaller stack on the front row desk. "**Please get them filled out as soon as possible to get your new student ID cards.**"

Several minutes passed by as more mandatory sheets were passed out. Soon, the clock struck 8:55 and they started to head to the gym for the opening ceremony.

The ceremony lasted a long time, and it consisted of many speeches from many people, including the principal. A lot of standing up and bowing was involved as well, and Yoshiki found himself struggling to restrain himself from going crazy.

It took what felt like an eternity, but eventually the ceremony finished near lunch time. The students started to head back to their classes.

Yoshiki entered the classroom and looked at the clock, which showed 11:45. The two teachers entered, ordered the ruckus to die down and for the students to return to their seats.

"**Since we still have a little bit of time left, why don't we elect a class representative right now?**" suggested Yamazaki, smiling.

The class remained undecided for a while before Ayumi put her hand up, volunteering.

"**Good. Anyone else?**"

There was no competition from the class. Ayumi looked around the room and noticed that most of her friends were smiling at her. Most. Yoshiki was just looking out the window.

The teacher clapped once and then beamed a smile at the class before turning to look at Ayumi directly.

"**Well, it looks like you are the one for class rep... and what is your name?**"

"**Shinozaki Ayumi.**"

Yamazaki wrote the name down in a sheet of paper and gave it to Yui, who was peacefully standing near the door. After she took it, she left the room, presumably to hand it in.

He started to walk to his podium and began taking things out from underneath.

"**There's only a few minutes left before lunch, so I'll hand out the textbooks and...**"

He trailed off while handing out the learning materials for the class. And then, the bell rang.

Ayumi checked her school bag and sure enough, her lunch was in there. She took the box and looked around for her friends.

Satoshi and Naomi were leaving the room, with Seiko not far behind. They were seemingly headed towards the cafeteria. Yoshiki wasn't anywhere in sight. Still, she went up to join them.

Satoshi smiled and looked at her.

"**Congratulations for getting class rep again, class rep.**"

"**Haha, thanks Mochida-kun...**"

The thought of Yoshiki not being with Satoshi hit her, and then she started to get curious.

"**Hey, where's Kishinuma-kun?**"

Satoshi fiddled with the lunch box he was carrying.

"**Oh... yeah, I think he's... on the roof? Not sure though.**"

Ayumi started to turn the other direction.

"**Thanks!**"

As she started to dart towards the staircase that led to the roof, Seiko snickered.

"**What do you think a boy and girl is going to do on the roof?**"

* * *

Yoshiki dragged the cigarette away from his mouth, wheezing out smoke like many times before. The sun was out at this time, and it felt generally warmer outside; it was almost like Mother Nature lit a candle.

It was a silent afternoon, save for the occasional birds chirping and the quiet chatter of other students eating outside. He watched as a group of friends walked across the third floor walkway, and then shifted his eyes over to a boy and girl couple sitting on a bench in the courtyard. A student was walking up to the vending machine to purchase a drink. He took another drag at his smoke.

There were also the sounds of many doors sliding open as well. A lot of the windows were open around the school, so it would make sense to hear them. A door slamming was also audible, along with footsteps. However, the next sound was unusual.

"**Kishinuma-kun?**"

Yoshiki turned around and noticed Ayumi walking up towards him. What was she doing here?

"**Oh, hey… class rep. What's up?**"

Ayumi crossed her arms.

"**What did I say to you about smoking?**"

Yoshiki raised his hands in the air and feigned surprise. The cigarette was still in his hand.

"**Oh no! You caught me in the act. **_**Please**_** don't hurt me.**"

"**Hey! I actually care about you, as class rep.**"

Yoshiki put his hands down and looked at her.

"**If you care about people so much, then why not run for president?**"

He started to observe that she started to lose a little bit of confidence in her body language, as her arms were starting to become loose. She nervously swayed a little.

"**Well…**"

There seemed to be some hesitation in her answer. So insecure, he thought.

"**...I have art club, and I want to do that more than managing the council.**"

"**I see…**"

The wind started to throw itself at them, and the smoke of the burning inferno on the cigarette started to sway. He was about to take another round before stopping and then throwing it down on the ground, stepping on it to extinguish the flame. Then, he bent down to pick up his lunch box.

"**Well, let's get off the roof, class rep.**"

A lazy grin that looked painted appeared on his face. Ayumi nodded and then she started to head towards the stairway door, Yoshiki not far behind.

The cafeteria soon came into view and it wasn't long before the familiar voice of Satoshi's pierced through the commotion of the other students.

"**Hey Yoshiki!**"

His voice guided the two to their table and they sat down next to each other, with Yoshiki on Satoshi's left. Ayumi's left side was an empty seat. They both faced Naomi and Seiko, who were busy nibbling away at their lunches.

"**So you found him on the roof, Shinozaki?**" said Satoshi, half chewing his sushi.

"**Oh… uh, yeah.**"

The conversations at the table started to pass by calmly, along with Seiko's mischievous smile. Ayumi was the first to finish her lunch, despite starting later than the others. She stood up with intent to stow away her lunch box back in the classroom.

As she walked in, she noticed the teacher's assistant — Yui Shishido — sorting out a few papers in the classroom. Yamazaki was nowhere to be seen, presumably in the staff lunch room. From Ayumi's perspective, it looked like this was Yui's first day on the job. She seemed inexperienced, nervous and really young. But hey, aren't inexperienced teachers more relatable? She thought that if they weren't as experienced, they would be easier to open up to since they're still not in that 'loop' that experienced teachers would have usually.

Ayumi quietly approached Yui, who was still busy shuffling around papers on the teacher's podium.

"**Umm, excuse me…**"

Yui turned around quickly in reflex, her face a little surprised. She soon calmed down after a short moment, and managed a small smile.

"**Oh, it's the class rep. Shinozaki… was it? I remember seeing you a few weeks ago.**"

"**Yep.**" Ayumi smiled back.

"**Oh… haha, okay.**" She turned her body back towards the podium and continued to work on the papers. "**Geez, there's a lot of papers that teachers have to go through…**"

Ayumi searched for her desk and found it. Reaching her desk, she stored her lunch box back into her bag. Then, she went back to Yui, who was now starting to use a pen to write stuff on the papers.

"**Well… I think artists have to go through a lot of that too.**"

Yui stopped her workflow for a moment to look at Ayumi. "**Really? I mean, can't they just make art and then sell it?**"

Ayumi played a little with her pigtails. "**Not really… they have to find certain publishers for selling it. Like how a band might have to find a label to get signed on to.**"

"**Oh… I didn't really know that.** **I guess the world isn't as simple as I thought it to be…**"

Ayumi giggled a little, and Yui was a little confused.

"**Huh? What's funny?**"

"**Ahahah… haha, nothing… It's just that you're fun to talk to… even if you're a teacher.**"

"**Really?**" She started to resume her work once again, smiling once more. "**Well, I suppose Yamazaki has that serious feel to him.**"

Ayumi checked the time, and realized that she should probably return back to her friends.

"**I need to go now. It was nice talking to you!**"

"**Bye!**" called out Yui as Ayumi exited the classroom.

She wasn't so bad… maybe that teacher won't be like the rest of the teachers that Ayumi had. Everyone else seemed down to earth, and somewhat intimidating. Too experienced, maybe?

Ayumi reached her table and noticed her friends were starting to finish up as well. Yoshiki looked at her as she approached, a look of suspicion in his face.

"**What took you so long, Shinozaki?**" inquired Seiko. "**We thought you were probably trying to hook onto another boy again!**"

Lunch started to pass by, and soon along with the last two blocks of the first day of their second year. Yoshiki started to make his way out of the classroom.

"**Hey, Yoshiki!**" he heard Satoshi call.

The blonde turned around, noticing Satoshi with Naomi and Seiko. Ayumi wasn't too far from Yoshiki either.

"**Yeah?**"

"**You going to hang out with us after school?** **We were thinking of karaoke.**"

He scratched his head. "**Oh, uh, sorry. I can't, since I have my job.**"

"**Oh… right. Damn. What about you, Shinozaki?**"

"**Me? No, thank you. I want to go to the art club.**"

Yoshiki sighed, deciding not to eavesdrop anymore and walked out into the hallway. Should he join the art club? Probably not, since he doesn't really have a passion for art anyway. Is music considered an 'art?' Well, he assumed that Ayumi's art club was the type with illustrating. He shouldn't be joining a club just to pursue someone.

After reaching the ground floor and changing his shoes, he started to head for home. Once he was there, he dropped off his bag and started to walk towards his job at Perfect Sound.

This was a good first day, wasn't it? He observed the scenery, the overpass, the convenience store and the karaoke building across the street from it. That's where his friends were heading, eh…

In retrospect, this was a better first day of school than pretty much any other first day so far. At least he had friends, a place to eat with, and people to talk to. And a crush.

* * *

"**Ayumi Shinozaki is in 14th place!**"

The club cheered as they started to praise her location. She improved, way more improved compared to last year.

The art club's opening day had an event of drawing a picture of a random chosen item for around an hour, before it was sent into the judges — also known as the seniors. The amount of freshmen in the club was high, so it was a good time to see the skills of each individual. But, to be placed in the top 15 was an achievement for Ayumi.

She used to have a lot of doubt on her abilities, but she has gained confidence since then. It was through her passion was she able to get so far in a small timespan.

Art club started to wrap up and in a few minutes, she was on her way towards the shoe lockers. This was more enjoyable than… say, being the student council president. She would never run in an election, since she didn't want all of that responsibility on her shoulders. Yeah, it would look good on a resume, but what gives? You don't need to be a leader to be an artist.

On her way to the shoe lockers, she recognized one of the various benches near the first year classrooms. This was the one she was sitting on and the one where she saw Yoshiki walk by last year. She heard him say he was going to his job earlier… so he was probably still there.

As she resumed walking, she noticed voices and music coming from the ajar auditorium door.

"**...****either to die the death or to abjure... for ever the society of men...**"

That voice, although drowned out by the other source of sound, was recognizable as Sakutaro Morishige's. Mayu was probably with him as well. Oh well, at least they seem to be accustomed to this year as well.

After changing her shoes, she started to walk home alone. The clock on the school house said it was around 6:30 PM. Spring meant that the days won't be as short, like during the winter.

What was next in this year? There was a grade wide trip somewhere in the last part of the trimester, the _shuugaku ryokou_. And to top it off, she was now the class representative for class 2-9. Is this that secret that Satoshi talked about?

Something told her that the surprise that Satoshi mentioned had something to do with the current class that they are all in. It was pretty… unlikely that all the friends would be in one single class.

Her house started to come into view. It was on this street that she had seen Yoshiki walking on many times before, including the night of their first year in high school. She started to enter her yard and enter her house.

"**I'm home!**" she called.

"**Welcome back,**" hollered back a man's voice. Her father, no doubt.

She started to take her shoes off and made her way towards her room. Then, she dumped her bag on the table and proceeded to dump herself on the bed.

It was a long first day at school. She looked at her bag, dreading the amount of paper work that she had to show her parents. At least the first year didn't have that much stuff to fill out.

But still, something about Yui made Ayumi comfortable about this new school year.

Something about the class made Yoshiki comfortable.

He observed as a sales associate helped a customer with finding a certain guitar model. Maybe all the others can help him through his life, and prevent him from becoming that delinquent he once was before.

Maybe he could find an answer to what his dreams were through them as well. Yes, this was going to a good year.

A good year, they both thought.

* * *

I've setup a blog, where you can find updates and other stuff. You can find that link on my profile.


	14. Chapter 14

Musing about in his mind on his way to school, Yoshiki angled his head up and looked around. The sky was pretty clear with the sun beaming over at him. The road he was on was empty, and this prompted him to check the clock on his phone.

He switched the bag to his left hand and pulled his phone out from his pocket. Flipping it open, the screen read _April 30th - 8:20am_. School started around 8:25, so he wasn't really late this time. He was trying to improve his attendance times lately, after all.

He put his phone back in his pocket and continued walking, thoughts still arising in his head. It has been roughly a month since school started. Nothing really seemed different from last year, except the changes in the curriculum.

The thoughts of the teachers were next to come, but they were suppressed by the sight of the school coming into view. He made way through the front gate, where he could see a few students lurking about in the area as well. At least he wasn't late, he thought.

Entering the main entrance of the high school wing, he made his way to the hallway where the second-year classrooms were located. Once he was there, he started to make his way to the last class in the hallway — 2-9.

The sounds of chatter from other classrooms were spewing out from the adjacent classrooms. A few students could be seen in the hallway, talking to each other. When they saw Yoshiki, their faces altered into discomfort. Probably because of his blond hair, he considered.

Once he was at the door with the sign above reading 2-9, he slid the door open and walked in. There were no teachers in the classroom, and the students were conversing with each other. The clock in the classroom had its needles pointed around 8:24. Homeroom was due to start in a minute.

His eyes caught sight of Satoshi talking to Naomi, like usual. He quietly made his way to his seat at the left end of the second row and set his bag down, along with his head down as well. Satoshi was still busy with talking to Naomi, and the bell was going to ring very soon, anyway.

Closing his eyes, the chatter in the class started to die as the bell rang, signalling the start of homeroom. However, it resumed when no apparently presence of any authority came from the door.

A few moments later, the familiar, faint voice of a teacher could be heard.

"**Okay, class… let's settle down now.**"

It was the teacher's assistant, Yui Shishido. Despite her pleas to calm the class down, the efforts were in vain as the class did not seem to notice her. Yoshiki looked up and looked to his friends on the right.

Ayumi was trying to quiet her friends, including Naomi, Satoshi and Seiko. Well, at least she was listening and doing her job as a class representative. Yoshiki turned his head towards Yui, who looked pretty downcast at the class' reaction to her voice.

Yamazaki, the primary homeroom teacher, soon walked in and that was what it took to quiet the class down.

"**Hello, everyone,**" he started.

Yamazaki soon began to take attendance, calling out names from the list. Yoshiki was bored, like usual. He turned his head towards the window, looking outside.

After attendance was taken, Yamazaki started to turn some papers before talking again.

"**I suppose I should recap the trimester dates for this year.**" He paused a little to cough, footsteps indicating he was moving to the podium. "**The summer break has been extended this year, so you have the month of August off. That's also when the first school term will end. The next school term begins in September and ends on the…**"

There was a shuffling from the class as they started to write the info about the dates down in their books, or whatever they have to write in. Yoshiki turned his head and saw Yamazaki shuffling some papers that he had set on the podium.

"**... it ends on the 19th of December. The third term begins on January 5th, with the last day of the school year on March 27th.**"

Yoshiki yawned a little as he turned his head to look towards his friends. They too were also writing stuff down. Well, might as well if everyone else is doing it. He pulled out a notebook of his own from his bag and wrote everything that he recalled into it.

"**Also, the sports festival is on August 1st. Preparation for that will begin around next month or so.**"

Oh, right. The festival that he didn't really go to last year. He still wondered if he should go. He wasn't exactly interested, but something told him that his friends would be disappointed if he didn't show up at any major school events. Well, whatever. There was still like, two months before that showed up.

Yui started to hand out the new school IDs as the teacher continued to drone on about more trivial things until homeroom period ended.

The first period of the day was PE, which Yoshiki didn't really like. Still, he was glad the Hosokawa was the second year PE teacher, compared to being taught by Tsubota.

The class started to make their way to the gym and into the dressing rooms to change into their gym strip. After they were done, they split up between genders with the boys gathered in the third section of the gym. The girls were directed outside.

Yoshiki watched as Hosokawa made his way to brief the class about the day's activities for the next seventy minutes. After he mentioned the starting of the basketball unit, the class started to do the student-led warm up.

During the warm up, Yoshiki noticed Hosokawa looking many times at the first-year class in the next gym, giving some dirty looks. Yoshiki followed his gaze and noticed Tsubota conversing with a student. He seemed _very_ friendly about doing so, even patting him on the back a little.

Yoshiki scoffed at this, knowing that Tsubota was one of those teachers that would give certain students attention while hating the rest. That type of prejudice was just outright frowned upon.

Yoshiki sighed as he started to balance on one leg and hold it, just like what the rest of the class is doing. He continued to wonder about the kid he was talking about, as he never saw Tsubota talk like that to anyone else

* * *

After all the morning classes were over, lunch time came along. The clock in the classroom read 12:11pm, which was really around when lunch started. Yoshiki searched in his bag for the lunchbox he had prepared himself for today and started to make his way to the cafeteria, as his friends already left.

The racket coming from the cafeteria can be heard as the doors came into view. As he walked through, he saw his group of friends and made his way over.

"**Hey, Yoshiki,**" murmured Satoshi, a little gloomy.

"**Yeah, hey Satoshi.**" Yoshiki started to sit down next to Satoshi, who slid over a bit. "**You seem down today.**"

"**Oh… yeah…**" Satoshi continued to peck at his lunch.

Naomi, Seiko and Ayumi giggled a little.

"**He's just bummed about his school ID picture, that's all.**"

"**Oh, I see.** **Well, good luck with that.**"

Satoshi frowned at his friend's lack of sympathy.

"**Damn, you're no help!**"

Yoshiki shrugged. "**Well, what can I say?**"

Satoshi pulled out his school ID and showed it to Yoshiki. After a few moments, Yoshiki blinked and then started to burst out laughing.

"**Hey!** **You're laughing too?!**"

"**Sorry! Hahaha, I couldn't help it!**" He continued to gasp for air as he continued to poke fun at his picture.

"**Well, that wasn't too far from how I reacted!**" butted in Naomi. She then stuck some food into her mouth after.

"**Not a bad cosplay,**" commented Seiko.

Yoshiki took another look at the picture. Satoshi's bangs were covering his eyes like an emo person. This is probably something that would belong in a really cheesy manga, thought Yoshiki. There was a faint shadow over his eyes, and combined with Satoshi's boyish face, it made him look like a bad ass wannabe.

Satoshi grabbed the ID quickly from him and put it back on his uniform.

"**Damnit, Yoshiki… you know, you should really treat me better as a friend. It's...**"

Yoshiki was finished getting over it by then and pulled out his lunch box. He started to eat his lunch box, tuning out from the nearby set of words that went in and out the other end of Yoshiki's ears.

"**Hey, are you listening to me at all!?**"

"**Oh… you were talking to me?**" mocked Yoshiki.

"**... ah. Okay. I see now.**"

Yoshiki shrugged as Satoshi became more depressed, sulking down on the table.

"...**I thought Yoshiki was my friend, Naomi…**"

"**But, I am your friend, right?**" came back Yoshiki.

"**Ahahaha… quit screwing around with me!**"

Yoshiki snickered and gave Satoshi a playful slap on the back before Yoshiki finished the last bites of his rice.

"**Anyways...**" began Ayumi, "**we haven't actually seen much of Yamazaki-sensei lately, have we?**"

"**Mhmm, he's usually away on trips, I think**," added Naomi, putting her lunch box away.

Seiko nodded and started to add some comments of her own.

"**Ahah, yeah, it's usually Shishido-sensei who's left alone for all the teacher's duties. Kinda like how… mmh.**"

The once cheerful Seiko started to get the blues when she mentioned the teacher's situation. Naomi, who was the closest to her, could probably tell what Seiko was thinking about.

"**Oh… right. Seiko, your mother disappeared, right?**"

Seiko nodded.

"**Well… I'm pretty sure she'll get used to it somehow,**" breathed Seiko.

"**Yeah… I think the class doesn't really like her…**" chimed in Ayumi.

Yoshiki stood up and the group looked at him, as his sudden action seemed so sudden.

"**Hey, where are you going, Yoshiki?**" questioned Satoshi.

"**I'm just going for a walk.**"

Yoshiki started to walk off carrying his lunch box as the rest of the group started to resume their conversation.

Responsibilities, eh. Yoshiki never really had many responsibilities, did he? He started to walk towards his classroom to drop his lunch box. When he was done, he started to roam around the school, like usual.

Walking around the school aimlessly was something that he had grown used to. Some of his friends asked him about why he does that, but he was pretty indifferent towards them. He noticed the first-year hallway and that reminded him to do something.

He walked down towards the 1-5 classroom, and walked into the open door towards Hosokawa. The freshmen in the class looked at Yoshiki with a bit of worry, but the teacher decided to talk with Yoshiki in the hallway.

"**Hello, Kishinuma. What did you want to talk to me about?**"

"**Well… it's about this morning, in PE.**"

"**It's about Tsubota, right?**"

Yoshiki nodded, and Hosokawa shook his head.

"**You saw that student he was friendly with?**"

Yoshiki could recollect that person that Tsubota was overly casual.

"**Oh, yeah. I remember.**"

"**That was the son of his brother, Takako Tsubota.**"

Tsubota has a brother? That was something new that Yoshiki heard about him. That could explain Yoshiki's observation of Tsubota's interest in that person that was at the volleyball tournament last year. Whether that was Tsubota's son or brother, he didn't know.

"**Oh… I see.**"

"**I also have a son of mine, Hideko. They both had a little quarrel back in junior high school, and that's what made us today.**"

Yoshiki nodded and looked out the window, noticing the students finishing up their lunches on the courtyard benches. He remembered Hosokawa buying a guitar that one time, which was probably for his son.

"**Of course, we parents get involved… and you pretty much seen the rest.**"

"**Yeah, I know. And, uh, does your son play guitar?**"

Hosokawa nodded.

"**Indeed. He seems to love it along with his commitment to the basketball team.**" He started to walk towards his classroom. "**Well, class is about to start soon. You should probably arrive on time.**"

Yoshiki nodded in agreement.

"**Thanks.**"

Hosokawa gave a little smile before walking back into class, with many more students entering the class as well. Yoshiki started to walk back to his own classroom.

As he made his way upstairs to the second-year hallways, he noticed Ayumi walking out of the staff room, and then Yui exiting a few moments later. He decided to keep quiet for now as he followed them from a distance.

The two both entered the classroom together through the classroom door nearest to the front, while Yoshiki entered from the back door. He made his way discreetly towards his desk as the bell rang. His friends were back in class already, and greeted him like usual.

Yamazaki walked out of the classroom, so Yui was going to teach the next lesson — math. Of course, he was never a fan of teachers rotating between classrooms. It made everything even more boring, like college lectures.

During the lesson, Yoshiki noticed Ayumi looking at Yui so intently. What could she have in mind, he mused. He decided to look at Yui closely for himself, and noticed a panda necklace around her neck. That was unexpected, since she used to wear a white bow over it all the time. He didn't actually notice that there before, and wondered if she had the necklace all the time. Now it made Yoshiki a little curious, despite the boring lesson.

Oh well, just another excuse to listen to the lesson.

* * *

After the last two afternoon periods and cleaning time were over, it was time for the last homeroom period of the day. Yamazaki entered the class at this time and started to discuss some more things.

"**I've been told that the class grades are ready for viewing as this is the end of the month… and I need to head to the photocopier to get it.**" He started to walk towards the door. "**Shishido, can you watch over the class?**"

She nodded, although Yoshiki could feel some unease from her as the primary teacher walked out. The typical ruckus of the students soon erupted as the main authoritarian force of the classroom left.

Some of the commentary leaked into Yoshiki's ears as he attempted to sleep.

"**My parents say that we never get any results from her anyway…**"

"**Yeah… the class placements are weird this year.**"

"**Was she assigned to the last class because she was new?**"

"**We got the short end of the stick, then.**"

From eavesdropping, Yoshiki didn't feel guilty for his actions. He didn't care about any of these other people who were complaining. He doubted his parents cared if she didn't have any results for him anyway, since school seemed to be more of a blur for him than something to invest in.

However, he decided to look at Ayumi's reactions. He turned to look at the blue-headed girl, and noticed she was cringing in her seat. There was a lot that she was quivering a little. Poor girl… he sympathized with the two girls' situation. They seemed pretty… close, even though they were both student and teacher.

Well, maybe everything will get resolved when Yamazaki walks in, he concluded. He started to put his head down again to try to get some snoozes.

By that time, Yamazaki had walked in and settled the class down. He posted up the results of the class, which prompted a stampede since the students allegedly didn't get results from the homeroom TA. Yoshiki, however, wasn't with that type of opinion as he didn't care.

Homeroom soon ended, and Yoshiki was starting to go home when he saw Satoshi. Packing up his bag with the homework, he made his way over to him.

"**Hey, Satoshi.**"

Satoshi looked up at Yoshiki with a bit of disappointment on his face.

"**Oh. Hi…**"

"**... what?**"

Satoshi shrugged.

"**Nothing.**" He stood up and took his bag, slinging it over his shoulder. "**Let's go pick up Yuka today.**"

"**Alright.**"

The two boys started to walk out of the classroom. Yoshiki looked behind him to see Ayumi heading the other direction, supposedly to the art club's room. Well, it was none of his business, anyway. He turned his head back towards the front.

They crossed into the high school wing, talking about random subjects that come into mind. Soon, they started to look for Yuka's classroom. Yoshiki wondered if his sister, Miki, was around as well.

Yuka soon found the two and they started to head towards the exit of the school building.

"**How'd you do, Yuka?**" asked Satoshi. "**Did you get any results?**"

"**Yah… it was okay…**"

As they walked out and onto the front yard of the school, they noticed Yui riding off on her bike towards the road.

"**That was Shishido-sensei, right, Yoshiki?**"

"**Yeah, I think it was.**"

They kept walking down the familiar street towards the convenience store. In spite of that, they decided to stop at the local crêpe stand. Satoshi started to pull out his wallet as Yuka started to choose from the selection of crepes available.

"**I mean, I know she's totally new to the teaching stuff, but she's doing pretty well, in my opinion.**"

As Yuka pointed at a chocolate banana one, Satoshi and Yoshiki decided to buy one for themselves as well. Yoshiki looked over the selections and picked out a simple French vanilla crêpe.

"**I guess, yeah.**"

They paid for their treats and continued to walk towards the overpass near the convenience store. They started to part their ways as Satoshi and Yuka walked over the walkway, while Yoshiki headed down towards the convenience store.

Taking a bite from the crêpe, he started thinking about Yui some more. What did she really hold inside, anyway? The fact that their class was the first one that she taught probably was 'special,' but she felt stressed about it. She looked visibly stressed as well. Maybe he could make it better somehow? It probably was stressing doing something for the first time.

Still, he still had his part-time job to do. He could recall the first time he worked part-time, and it was pretty nerve-wracking. He could relate to her somehow.

* * *

Work for Yoshiki at the music store had started to finish at around 8:30pm, and he started to walk home. Today was pretty uneventful. A month of school has already passed, and everything felt the same, even if he did feel like this year was going to be better than any other year of school.

He didn't have any obligation to do anything for her, though it was something that would be nice to do. It didn't hurt to get to know more people, even though if it was a teacher.

Compared to most other teachers at the school, she's pretty young and inexperienced; it makes the teaching experience more interesting as it's a young person teaching young person. She did look like someone who walked out of college, after all. The experimental aspect of it all was pretty intriguing.

Yoshiki entered his home and hung his school uniform in his room, changing into his sleepwear. He considered the fact that Yui might've had a dream to be a teacher, and that was what drove her into teaching others.

Even if she was pretty clumsy in her career path, it still felt like she was trying to do something that she loved to do. He envied that type of persistence, as he never really did have any of that in his life.

He started to go to his freezer and cook an entrée for his dinner. After putting a breaded chicken one in the microwave, he went over to the TV and turned it on, watching mindless shows about drama. Why is he even paying for this, anyway? Such a waste of money. Well, it's better than doing nothing.

Turning it off, Yoshiki strolled off into his room, still awaiting the beeps from his microwave. He looked at his school bag and the homework that was assigned. Deciding to do them, he pulled out a pencil from his desk and started to work on the math problems.

The beeping soon came and then he went over to pick up the entrée, still hot from the cooking. He went into his room and put it on the desk, still working on his problems.

After he was done the work with relative ease, he started to work on eating his entree. At this time, he started to reflect on the day.

So, Tsubota has a brother, and that brother has a son that fought with Hosokawa's son. That explained the hatred between them. Maybe Tsubota's trying to influence his brother's son to be the 'best' in everything, and to not fail like the rest of the people he pretty much hates at this school.

Well, at least Tsubota has a clear plan for treating his kids, if he had any. Compared to Yoshiki's father, Tsubota would probably treat kids with more love. The concept of that unconditional love never really entered his mind.

Yoshiki also still has the thought of Yui's performance at school in mind. Even if it has been a month, she still doesn't feel like she's enjoying teaching a lot. Students complain about not getting 'results' from her. Well, that might solve itself, but then again it probably won't. And then, there's the interest that Ayumi has in her.

What was Ayumi to Yoshiki, anyway? He had always had the question in his mind. Maybe it was from that time when he saw Ayumi cry on his behalf.

Heh. What a foolish assumption. Then again, if he didn't look at Ayumi to care enough about her, he wouldn't have seen what Ayumi thought of Yui and then Yoshiki's interest would've been nil. He wouldn't have noticed the panda necklace probably as he would probably too disinterested in Ayumi to notice her looking at Yui.

It was probably true that Yoshiki harbored feelings for Ayumi. There's no other explanation for him glancing at her from time to time, he theorized. What does it feel like to like someone anyway?

Then again, who was he to think these thoughts? He was a high-schooler, after all. Ayumi seems to be interested in someone else anyway. Like, his best friend, Satoshi.

But, whatever. Maybe he'll help Yui when he gets the chance. He wouldn't want someone to feel overwhelmed by doing something for the first time, anyway. None of his friends really had a job in their lives yet, so his experience might be useful.

He finished up his entrée and started on his next set of homework. He was probably thinking too much into it, he thought. But was there such a thing as 'thinking too much?'


	15. Chapter 15

"**Still no friends?**"

Yoshiki nodded at his father as he walked into his house, shutting the door quietly. The sound of a TV show can be heard coming from the living room.

"**Well, there's thirty people in class, right? There's got to be at least someone.**"

Yoshiki walked towards his room, his expression unresponsive. Was there a problem with being not social? Even the teacher pushed him to try to talk to others. Is non-social such a problem in this world?

As soon as he entered his room, he closed the door and started to take off his junior high uniform for something more casual. Soon after, he made his way out of his room and went over to the living room to take a peek at his father.

The sound of the TV became more audible as he approached the room, and Yoshiki could interpret it as a Japanese drama show, although unable to identify the exact name. Well, he never paid much attention to TV, anyway.

Yoshiki tilted his head in, looking at his father's black hair and the background motion of the TV. Was this what a childhood should be like? Having a father that seems distant, and love that seems false? That father was doing a _good_ job, thought Yoshiki.

Suddenly, footsteps can be heard approaching. Rotating his head, he noticed the figure of a girl coming towards him.

* * *

"**Hey, Kishinuma-kun?**"

Yoshiki raised his head at the voice, and noticed Ayumi looking at him at the lunch table. Along with the other three in the group including Mayu and Morishige, they all stared at the fatigued blond.

"**Oh. Sorry, I fell asleep.**"

"**I see.**"

Yoshiki looked at his lunch box. It was fairly empty, and then he suddenly remembered that he finished his lunch. He suddenly stood up from the table, which didn't go unnoticed by a certain class representative.

"**Hey, Kishinuma-kun! Where are you going?**"

"**Putting my lunch away. You know.**" He started to walk off from the table.

Ayumi frowned while raising her voice.

"**But can it wait? I got—**"

"**Oh, wait, I'll come with you,**" butted in Satoshi, standing up as well.

Satoshi went off to join Yoshiki and they both walked away from the cafeteria, talking about something that was inaudible due to the distance.

"**Geez… those two.**" Ayumi turned back towards the remaining group. "**Well, anyway, I still have Yui-sensei's birthday to discuss.**"

"**You know her birthday?**" piped up Mayu, a little enthusiastic.

Ayumi fidgeted a little.

"**It's today, May 9th. I kinda asked Yamazaki for it.**"

"**Aww… I could've got something ready if you told us earlier!**" pouted Mayu.

Ayumi smiled, an attempt to reassure Mayu.

"**Well, don't worry. I have a gift of my own for today.**"

Seiko and Naomi started to become interested as well.

"**Ooh~! What is it?**" perked up Seiko.

"**Is it a stuffie?**" asked Naomi.

"**Haha, yeah! A panda one.**"

"**That's nice!**" Mayu started to cheer up a little more. "**But, do you have any particular reason for a panda?**"

"**Well, I kinda noticed that panda necklace she's always wearing.**" Ayumi blemished red a little as she scratched her face. "**Anyways, what do you guys think?**"

"**Fine by me,**" stated Morishige, browsing on his phone.

"**Totally!**" exclaimed Mayu.

"**Oooh wee~ I bet it'd have a nice ass! Pandas have nice asses, right?**"

Ayumi dodged Seiko's question, although she still felt pretty awkward.

"**Okay, we'll give it to her after school.**" She started to stand up and turned her body to walk away. "**I better tell the other two now, wherever they went.**"

The group acknowledged her action and with that, Ayumi wandered off to find the two best friends.

She kept walking throughout the school, stopping by the 2-9 classroom to see if they were there. However, there wasn't anyone in the classroom besides Yamazaki. She took a look at the clock — 12:50 pm.

"**Yamazaki-sensei?**"

The teacher looked at her, adjusting his glasses.

"**Oh. What do you need, Shinozaki?**"

"**Have you seen Mochida-kun and Kishinuma-kun?**"

Yamazaki nodded. "**I do believe I have seen them enter once to drop a lunch box off. Though, I don't know where they went after.**"

"**I see. Thank you, sensei.**"

Ayumi bowed before setting off to find the two before lunch break was over. She looked out the window to check if they were in the courtyard below, and noticed that there were figures of two male students on the third floor walkway. Recognizing them, she proceeded to make her way upstairs.

As she approached the open doorway to the walkway, their faint voices can be heard. She peeked around the corner and saw that they were leaning on the concrete handrail. The first voice she recognized as Yoshiki's

"**...yeah, day-duty sucks. Well, I'll go tell her for you.**"

"**Thanks a bunch.**"

Ayumi started to approach them, getting their attention.

"**Hey, you two!**"

They both turned to look at Ayumi, walking towards them in a shipshape manner.

"**Oh, hey, Shinozaki,**" said Satoshi nonchalantly. "**What's up?**"

"**I've been looking all over for you two, that's what.**" She crossed her arms. "**I got something for Yui-sensei's birthday today.**"

"**Oh?**" Yoshiki couldn't help but break out a grin. "**Already on a first name basis?**"

Ayumi ignored his remark.

"**I have a panda stuffed animal for her birthday, and we're giving it to her after school.** **You guys like her too, right?**" She started to look over the edge at the distant students conversing below.

"**Well, I guess,**" mumbled Satoshi, scratching his head.

"**Better than most of my other teachers,**" retorted Yoshiki, a hint of disgust in his voice.

"**Haha, I can't agree with you more.**" Ayumi turned to look at Yoshiki directly. "**I noticed your attendance compared to last year has been better with her around.**"

That's probably because of _Ayumi _in her class, not Yui. However, Yoshiki decided to keep this thought to himself. It was true after all: he really did like Yui better than most other teachers he had in the past.

"**Well, see you two in class.**" Ayumi started to turn to leave the walkway.

"**See you, class rep,**" called out Satoshi.

As Ayumi started to walk down the steps, she wondered about the tone that Yoshiki had when he mentioned his other teachers. What kind of experiences he had, she wondered. She could look back on that little incident with Tsubota last year involving his smoking. Speaking of his smoking, she wondered if he tried starting to quit yet.

The lunch period soon started to end soon after Ayumi arrived in the classroom, with the rest of the students filling up the seats for the next lesson.

The last two afternoon classes were past and it was time for homeroom. The usual homeroom routine began with Yamazaki addressing the classroom, Yui in the back sorting through papers.

"**First of all, I would like to say that next week is when the sports festival preparations will begin. The festival is also moved to August 2nd, out of convenience.**" He started to pull out a pile of small papers. "**Secondly, the student council elections are today.**"

Yamazaki stepped down from his podium and started to hand out the papers in rows. "**It should be pretty self-explanatory.**"

A pile of papers that came from in front of Yoshiki soon arrived. He took one sheet from the pile before handing the rest of the pile behind him. Looking at the sheet, he could see tick boxes next to completely unfamiliar names.

_President candidates: Kiyonori Saiki… _Yeah, he knew none of these people. Still, he acquiesced in the teacher's request to fill out the form. It was probably 'mandatory', anyway.

All of this started to spur Yoshiki's mind in thinking of Ayumi's decision of her place in the school. Art club is more fun than managing a government, he guessed. I mean, he could never be trusted to run anything, really, so he really had no experience in the matter. Ergo, he proceeded to lose the thought and finished checking the last box.

After the class incuriously finished voting, all the ballots were collected by the teacher and put into a box. The rest of homeroom started to wrap up, and it wasn't long until the school bell rang, signalling the end of school.

Although Yamazaki and many of the students started to disperse from the classroom, there were seven students and Yui still present in the classroom. The students were ready to ambush the TA with the gift that Ayumi had prepared.

Ayumi went up to approach Yui with her hands behind her back, who was engrossed in the work lay on the teacher's desk. So focused that she didn't notice Ayumi or the six other students still in the classroom. Ayumi looked behind at her gift in her hand before starting to speak.

"**Hey, Yui-sensei?**" asked Ayumi.

Yui looked up, appearing like she broke out from a trance.

"**Oh, Shinozaki… what do you need?**"

Ayumi looked at the others and nodded. She revealed the stuffed panda and held it out to Yui, beaming a smile at Yui.

"**Happy birthday, sensei!**" they all yelled.

Yui looked a little startled, then bewildered and then relieved. She took the panda stuffie slowly, returning a smile.

"**Oh… I-I don't know what to say…**"

"**Well, I would say that your students are appreciative of you.**"

They all looked towards the open door of the classroom to see Yamazaki walking in the classroom, a grin on his face.

"**When Shinozaki asked me for your birthday, Shishido, I knew something was up.**" Yamazaki started to walk towards the podium, carrying a stack of papers.

"**Shishido approached me earlier this week for advice, talking about how the students aren't fond of her teaching. And well, look here!**" he exclaimed, laughing. "**Definite proof that the students are happy with you.**"

Yui looked overjoyed with the realization, and she hugged the panda stuffie tight.

"**Thank you…**"

It was pretty clear the Yui was at a loss for words. The seven students smiled, and Ayumi held Yui's hand.

"**We just wanted to celebrate your birthday as a thank you. We don't normally celebrate teacher's birthdays… but you're special.**"

"**Mhmm!**" piped in Mayu "**I hope you don't stop teaching!**"

The students continued to celebrate until the clock hit 4:30pm, and the students started to finish up and head off to their respective after-school activities.

Yoshiki started to leave the school when he remembered that he had to tell Satoshi's younger sister, Yuka, about Satoshi being late for day duty.

He made his way over to the junior high wing, and sure enough he could spot Yuka waiting by the front doors for her big brother.

"**Hey, Yuka,**" he hollered, approaching her.

Yoshiki got Yuka's attention and she smiled a little.

"**I've come here to say that your big brother is going to be a little late, okay?**"

Yuka looked a little disappointed, but she eventually nodded and smiled. Yoshiki couldn't help but smiled back before starting to walk away towards the front gate.

It would've been nice to have a sister wait for Yoshiki… like Miki. But well, of course there's the trouble of their parents.

Yoshiki left the school and walked towards his home, his part time job awaiting him at 5:00. Since it was a Friday, he started to think about what to do over the weekend. Maybe hang out with Satoshi, or just screw around town. Well, he had a lot of time to decide anyway.

* * *

Ayumi left the art club room at 6:30, yawning a little. She started to walk down the hallway but soon went to the hallway where the second year classrooms were located.

When she looked inside 2-9, Yui was still there.

"**Hey, Yui-sensei!**"

Yui turned to look at Ayumi, a smile already present on her face.

"**Oh, hey Shinozaki. Thanks for the present earlier.**"

"**No problem! You're my favourite teacher after all.**"

And it was true. This was the first teacher that Ayumi had any interest in. For the past five years since junior high school, she never really liked any of her teachers. But here she was, talking to a teacher as if she was a friend.

"**Anyways Yui-sensei, about the sports festival coming up…**"

The conversation about the upcoming sports festival continued for a while before it was soon time for Yui to finish up. Ayumi started to walk alongside Yui, still talking about various topics.

"**...what about relationships, Yui-sensei? Do you have any?**"

Yui was visibly embarrassed, smiling nervously.

"**Well, I don't exactly have one right now, but—**"

"**Oh, Shishido!**"

Yui was interrupted by Yamazaki as they walked away from the classroom. Yui laughed nervously before turning to face the teacher.

"**Haha, sorry… I think we need to continue this another time.**"

"**Geez… ok. See ya, teach!**"

Yui waved as Ayumi walked towards the exit of the school, downcast at the abrupt ending of their conversation.

Did she have any relationships with anyone? She was about to say something about that matter… and of course Yamazaki had to interrupt them. Well, she could probably ask about it again next week.

After changing her shoes and leaving the school, she soon arrived at home. She entered her room and placed her bag down on her table. She started to look around and pull out one of the candles from her skirt pocket.

"**Maybe this could work…**"

Turning on the laptop, she then browsed the laptop for charms that could tell her about fortune telling a relationship. Completely curious about Yui's words, she couldn't wait any longer to find a possible answer. She soon found a method and went over to the kitchen to get a glass filled with water with a spoon.

She lit a candle before chopping up another candle and putting the pieces in the spoon. After doing that, she melted the pieces over the lit candle and waited for it to melt. Once it melted, she dumped the pieces into the glass and watched as a shape formed.

A shape resembling a crown started to appear, and Ayumi looked at the list on the website for what it could mean.

_Sickness_.

What a strange fortune. Was this for Ayumi or Yui? Or maybe it was for anyone she knew? There wasn't much indication on the site to say who or how to direct it for someone else. Still, it was a premonition alright.

She looked for another fortune telling for finding something about someone else, when she stumbled upon a method requiring another item that she didn't have. The stores in the shopping district might have some playing cards.

Taking her wallet and changing out of her school uniform into something more casual, she left the house to find some playing cards.

She looked around at the cherry blossoms starting to bloom like pink hailstones falling from the sky. Looking up, the clouds that contrasted the opaque, hued sky started to build up. Maybe it was going to rain soon. She picked up her pace at the thought.

* * *

Yoshiki at the cashier's desk with an unplugged electric guitar, an Epiphone Les Paul. Mindlessly reciting a blues scale on the fretboard, he was waiting for some customers to show up.

He noticed that the weather outside was started to timorously turn darker, before a few drops of water could be seen haggardly flowing down the windows. It was raining at this time? Well, spring still warm anyway. It was sunny earlier today, too.

He doesn't have an umbrella, so he wondered if he might end up sick on the way home. Isn't all the sick from the rain a myth, anyway? Well, this world was strange anyway. Like those times when Ayumi claimed that a ghost was attacking him. Maybe some unlikely myths were true.

He put down the guitar and scouted the staff room. Sure enough, there were several umbrellas conveniently placed in the corner. At least that reassurance was helpful.

Work started to pass by, and soon it was around 7:30 when he started to get off. It was still raining by then, even more so than a few hours ago.

The constant rattling of the impending rain droplets can be heard from the windows. Customers entering the store were carrying drenched umbrellas smothered with the rainwater. Sighing, Yoshiki went into the back and took an umbrella, leaving the store.

Looking around, the shopping district was filled with people with umbrellas over top as shields from the weather. He started to walk towards his home, minding his own business. Yawning again, he wondered about the weather. Sometime it would get this weird, but rain season was due to start anyway.

Still thinking about friends and what to do over the weekend, he decided maybe he could head to Satoshi's or go to the arcade with him or something. At least now he had friends, adding on to the list of possible things to do.

He was around the corner of the music store when he noticed a well-known blue-haired girl walking in the rain, her orange sweater drenched with precipitation. What was she doing anyway? He watched as she struggled to stifle a sneeze, a bag in her other hand.

"**Oi, Shinozaki!**"

Ayumi turned at the mention of her name and watched as Yoshiki approached.

"**Kishinuma-kun? What are you— ahhh…**"

Yoshiki kept his distance as she prepared to curb another approaching sneeze.

"**Geez…**" she fussed, looked at Yoshiki. "**You're going to leave me all wet?**"

"**Sorry…**"

Yoshiki went over to her and walked alongside her, switching his hands so the umbrella covered both of them. It was a little small for two people, but it still covered the majority of their bodies.

The two walked in silence, bar the occasional sneeze from the class representative. Yoshiki wondered what was in that bag of hers, or why she didn't buy an umbrella for herself. Must be pretty dumb to go home without an umbrella or anything, as she was pretty much drenched when he saw her.

Yoshiki was pretty much walking towards Ayumi's home, but she stopped at the convenience store.

"**I think I can get home by myself from here,**" she explained, walking out a little. **"See you, Kishinuma-kun!**"

It was still pouring, but Yoshiki nodded and started to walk towards his home. Wonder if she'll be sick for the next week. Her face looked pretty disheveled when he saw it.

Well, luck gets the best of people sometimes. Just her luck to run into a torrential rainfall.


	16. Chapter 16

Yoshiki stood up and stretched, twisting his head to look at the clock in the classroom. It was around 9:20am, when first period would still be in session. Except, it wasn't.

The homeroom period has been extended into first period for preparations for the sports festival. Scratching his head, Yoshiki was looking over the team banner for festival. A joint effort between the last three homerooms: 2-7, 2-8 and 2-9.

"**Kishinuma-kun! Quit slacking!**"

Yoshiki turned to look at Ayumi, who was seated across the banner from Yoshiki. Her eyes felt like missiles ready to launch at any second. He smirked a little at the comparison, the blue eyes not holding much intimidation potential.

"**Right, class rep.**"

Yoshiki sat back down and looked at Satoshi, who was busy painting in a letter. They both continued to work silently in the classroom, amidst the chatter and the people making the team's cheer.

"**Hey, Satoshi,**" began Yoshiki.

"**Yeah?**" Satoshi continued to stroke the ebony toned brush on the red paper.

"**You're birthday is today, right? July 4th?**"

"**That's right.**" Satoshi halted painting to dip the brush with a fresh coat of black ink, before resuming the line he was working on. "**I think it's also the American Independence Day today as well.**"

"**I see. That explains some of the American flags I saw on my way to school.**" Yoshiki started to pick up a brush of his own to work on another letter.

"**Ahh, right! We should throw a party for you!**" suggested Naomi, who was delicately drawing some imagery on the other side, next to Ayumi.

"**Got any ideas?**" replied Satoshi.

"**We could do a cake, like last time.**" Ayumi paused for a moment, her expression in thought. "**Remember where we went to Naomi's birthday?**"

Satoshi started to finish up the letter and put the brush into the jar.

"**Ruby's Bakery near the train station?** **Yeah, we could go there again.**"

Mayu popped in, eager as always.

"**Shige-nii and I might not make it, due to the drama club, but we'll try!**"

Yoshiki rubbed his head before starting to paint again. He could recall there being a bakery there, but he never remembered going into there.

Satoshi yawned as he reinvigorated his paintbrush.

"**You, Morishige and Yoshiki haven't been there, right?**"

"**Don't think we have,**" mumbled Yoshiki.

There was a birthday back in December, but what else happened in December? Besides the Christmas things, he could faintly recall another strange moment that happened. It finally clicked in his mind: the time when he went into school at night. The time when he allegedly was choking himself while getting Tsubota's info.

Looking over at Ayumi, he could see that she was smiling and getting along with the fellow classmates. On a more thorough inspection, he could see a hint of discomfort in her eyes. Of course, eyes that he had seen many times before, just like that night back in December.

What did she mention it was? Spirits? Surely, that stuff didn't exist, right? Setting aside the thought, he continued to paint the letter as a way to get it out of his mind. It wouldn't help him to dwell on it at this time. It wasn't the first time dwelling on such things, either.

The school's been pretty weird for him so far. Many things have happened in the school, especially during the night, like the footsteps during the other night that he went into the school. He couldn't remember when it was, but it was when Hosokawa helped him out. Why did he help him out, anyway? Judging on the way Hosokawa looked at Tsubota, he probably has a grudge or something of that sort.

Can't blame someone for harbouring such a grudge, since Yoshiki was a victim of that scenario himself.

Noticing the paint was starting to leave weak lines, he dipped in the jar a new coat and repainted over the lackluster line. He still needs to concentrate on this work, though. Maybe those thoughts can come at another time.

* * *

Soon, the extended homeroom finished, with the second and third periods passing by. Lunch soon came, with work continuing throughout.

Yoshiki started to leave the classroom, away from the commotion of the cheer makers and the other enthusiastic workers. He wasn't really all that excited for it, since he never felt that way. When has he ever felt "energized"?

"**Hey, Yoshiki!**"

Turning around in the midpoint of the crowd of students, he waited for Satoshi to catch up. After that, they both retreated for the roof stairwell.

They opened the door, and walked out on the exposed concrete rooftop. The skies were showing off its free of any limits attitude. An infinite and timeless atmosphere surrounding the world. Apart from the occasional bird flying, there were no clouds in sight. The sun was blaring out at full power, as the season right now was summer.

After settling themselves in the usual position on the roof, they began eating their respective lunches.

Yoshiki cleared his throat before opening his lunchbox.

"**Hey, about your birthday…**"

"**Yeah?**" Satoshi stuffed in a piece of chicken using his chopsticks.

"**I didn't bring any gifts for you.**"

Satoshi waited a while to chew his food down before replying.

"**Oh? That's alright.**"

"**Really?**" Yoshiki started to eat some of his pork that he had prepared for himself.

"**Mhmm. I'm pretty sure most of them forgot, anyway.**"

"**You really think so? Ehh…**"

Although that statement might seem true, Yoshiki attached a tag of scepticism on that and continued to eat his lunch. Their conversation topics started to turn completely random as they observed the summertime weather.

"**Does it always get this hot?**" Satoshi was starting to finish up his lunch, watching Yoshiki as he did the same."**I swear, every summer it gets more infuriating.**"

"**Yeah, well, probably. You're working up a sweat, though, so I can tell.**"

"**Hahaha, **_**probably.**_" Satoshi wiped a drop of sweat that was once making its way down his head. "**How do you not sweat in that gakuran of yours?**"

Yoshiki shrugged.

"**Whatever.**"

Yoshiki looked through the fence railing of the roof, looking below at the people in the courtyard. Nobody really ever comes up here, do they? Even from the first year here, he's never really seen anyone out here.

Through a window, he could pick out the familiar faces of Naomi and Seiko, prompting a question in his mind.

"**What do you think of Naomi?**"

Satoshi nearly spit out his food at the abrupt question. His face looked blemished with red.

"**What do I think of her?! Well… a close friend, I guess.**"

"**Yeah, with the first name establishment you go going on, and all that flirty.**"

Satoshi was finished with his lunch and closed the box.

"**How about you, Yoshiki-tiki?**"

"**Yoshiki-tiki? Well… not really.**" Yoshiki started to close his lunchbox as well. "**Not too interested in people, yet.**"

"**Oh, yeah?**"

He started to motion for Satoshi to follow him. "**Let's get off this roof, if you feel so cooked.**"

"_**Damn,**_" muttered Satoshi in English.

"**Learning English swears now?**"

Satoshi gave a dry laugh.

"**Well, it would fit the occasion of Independence Day. Isn't English their main language?**"

Yoshiki held the door open as Satoshi walked through.

"**I suppose. I heard they're pretty multicultural too.**"

"**And all we have is Japanese. **_**Mataku...**_"

Yoshiki let go of the door, before descending down the stairs after Satoshi. They soon started to walk back to their classroom.

"**Seriously, like you can feel the heat through these windows as well!**"

Yoshiki held his left hand out at the pervasive sun rays penetrating the windows.

"**Mhmm. Pretty heaty, alright.**" He laughed a little before retracting the hand into his left pocket. "**I never actually said 'happy birthday' to you yet, did I?**"

"**No, you didn't.**"

"**Well, technically, I already said it.**"

"**And generally, you didn't mean it.**"

The two reached their classroom and entered to stow away their lunch boxes. They started to work on the banner.

Yoshiki, after hearing a snippet of the prototyped cheer, started to converse with Satoshi.

"**Did you hear one of the ideas from the cheer workers?**" Yoshiki tried to stifle his laughter. "**'Through our sweat and tears, we'll break through in high gear'.**"

"**Junior high school festivals were much easier.**" Satoshi sighed as he stretched his back. "**Elementary was a cakewalk.**"

"**Speaking of cake, why do we eat cake on birthdays, anyway?**"

"**Don't know. Probably an old tradition from America.**"

Their conversations started to drag on until lunch period ended. The afternoon classes and the last homeroom period passed as well, and then it was time for the end of school.

* * *

The group that assembled outside for the birthday was the usual, with Satoshi, Naomi, Seiko, Ayumi, Yoshiki and the addition of Mayu. Unfortunately, Sakutaro had to stay behind for drama club.

Heat was still at a blaring temperature during their walk towards the bakery. After finally reaching it, the temperature of the air-conditioned building was a great respite from the relentless summer weather.

Making their way to an adequately sized table with long couch chairs, Satoshi and Naomi went to scout out a cake.

"**So what have you got for us this time, Shinozaki~?**" Seiko moved over until she was leaning on Ayumi. "**You gonna make us pure with those candle lights of yours?**"

Ayumi, clearly flustered at the situation, gave in to the inquisitive Seiko.

"**Well… I do have something.**"

Seiko's eyes lit up and she moved back, obviously happy to hear it. Maybe too happy.

"**I can't wait to hear it!**"

After Naomi and Satoshi returned with a vanilla strawberry cake, they put the cake on the table. Just before they could start eating, however, Ayumi started to present her usual undertaking for the occasion.

"**Well, uhm, Mochida-kun, I could tell your fortune, if you'd like.**"

"**Oh? Guess I could give it a try.**"

Ayumi took out a pack of playing cards and started shuffle them. Then, she separated them into three piles.

"**So, uh…**" Even if she remembered the meaning of the cards, she's still a bit rusty on the instructions. "**I think you flip over each of the top cards in the piles.**"

Satoshi looked at the piles and started to flip each pile over at once.

"**The left pile represents the history of your situation, middle is your current situation and right is the future of the outcome from the situation,**" she explained as Satoshi was flipping the second pile.

After all of the piles were flipped, Ayumi started to decipher the meanings, while the rest of them watched patiently.

"**The 5 of Diamonds on the left represent friendship and support.**" She looked over at the middle pile, cringing a little. "**Jack of Spades means you're going to experience a period of troubles.**" To conclude her fortune telling, she looked over at the last pile. "**And, the 4 of Spades means you're going to have to make a difficult decision…**"

The group sat in silence, the sounds of the surrounding customers filling up the void of conversation from the one bubbly group. After a while, Satoshi spoke up.

"**Thanks, Shinozaki. That was… helpful.**" His eyes held a solemn look, but nevertheless he changed his expression to a more cheerful state. "**C'mon, guys, let's dig in!**"

The group broke out of their trance and started to begin eating up the cake. However, before they did, there was something they needed to do.

"**Happy birthday!**"

Finally, the group started to eat the fluffy, snow colored cake.

"**That was some fortune, huh?**" remarked Naomi, chewing and looking out the window.

"**Sorry… it might've been inaccurate, haha… ahaha…**" Ayumi continued to laugh nervously, obviously feeling down from the outcome.

"**No, don't worry. It's not as inaccurate as you might think, anyway.**"

"**So, anyways, you guys prepared for the sports festival?**" Mayu was eager to start up some normal conversation topics.

"**Mmhmm,**" murmured Satoshi, preparing put in another spoonful. "**Although, I'm more worried about the first term report cards.**"

The group had their energy revived as their conversations buzzed cheerfully throughout the evening celebrations.

"**Anyone got any gifts for me?**"

Naomi could be heard ruffling through her bag, desperate to find something.

"**Oh… I almost forgot. Here!**"

She held out a box of a CD, with the box art visible.

"**My favourite band, the Iguana Rectifiers, eh?**" Satoshi took the case from Naomi, grinning at her. "**Thanks. Anyone else got anything?**"

It seems that no one else had any more gifts.

"**Damn…**" he muttered, although still cheerfully.

"**Well, I guess my fortune telling was sort of like a gift?**"

After they were pretty much finished with the cake, they headed out to find another activity to do for the occasion.

Mayu, however, already had an idea in mind.

"**How about karaoke? There's a place I usually go to across the convenience store.**"

"**That sounds… alright.**" Satoshi smiled and looked towards the rest of the group. "**What do you guys think?**"

The group agreed, although Yoshiki was not as enthusiastic. He'd never really been in a karaoke place before. Hell, it's only recently now that he's starting to hang out with friends. Even though he hasn't said much, he still felt like he belonged in this one.

* * *

Walking down the street and towards the convenience store, they found the karaoke bar and entered. Ordering a room, they proceeded to go over and sit on the couches.

"**I haven't been here since last year,**" admitted Satoshi. "**Don't know if my singing is going to be nice.**"

Yoshiki inspected the room. The wallpaper was painted with vibrant colors, probably to make the atmosphere of the room more comfortable. A mirror was placed on the back wall. There was a flatscreen TV and speakers in the front of the room, along with various microphones on a holder. The karaoke song selector was placed at the middle of the coffee table, surrounded by red velvet couches.

"**So who's singing first?**" queried Satoshi.

Naomi anxiously stood up.

"**I'll sing first!**"

As Naomi started to browse for a suitable song, Yoshiki and Satoshi started to talk a little.

"**You know that fortune that Ayumi gave me?**"

Yoshiki nodded, looking at the TV as various anime graphics filled the screen.

'_Euphoric Field by Elisa (ef: a Tale of Memories Opening)_'

"**Yeah, what about it?**"

"**Well… I'm not sure if I should say this to you—**"

Interrupted by the blaring sound of the music through the speakers, they decided to cut their conversation short.

_**Why am I standing alone in the twilight?  
**__**Let me go, no more lonely lights**_

Yoshiki's mind started to wander off as usual. What's this about that fortune telling? A period of troubles in the aspects of friendship and support? Well, what could be troubling about a friendship? Or maybe, the last card meant a decision about relationships.

_**I take a deep breath under the hazy sky  
**__**Feel like losing, but it's going to be alright.**_

Ayumi likes Satoshi anyway, right? Naomi seems to look like she feels the same. It's written all over her face. Well, whatever. He would at least try to enjoy the moment for once, instead of always dwelling on such concerns.

The song passed by, finishing up with a held note on "believe".

Seiko was the first to clap.

"**I didn't know you were that good at singing, Naomi~!**"

Naomi, closing her eyes and taking in a deep breath, started to sit down.

"**Well, I do get around with music sometimes.**" She took a bottle of water and started to drink from it before setting it down on the table. "**So, who's next?**"

"**Mememememememe!**" Mayu stood up at a breakneck speed and grabbed the karaoke controller.

Satoshi turned to Yoshiki to continue their conversation from before. This time, he leaned in close to his ear.

"**I don't know if you noticed, but Naomi really—**"

They stopped to look at the TV at the song selection, which was

'_Shangri-La by Imai Asami_'

"—**she gets all, well, emotional… around this time of year.**"

Yoshiki, getting a little piqued, looked at Satoshi with a curious expression.

"**What do you mean?**"

An eerie female voice can be heard reciting some undecipherable words through the speakers, reverberating throughout the entire room.

"**It was around summer… eight years ago I think. Eight years since she lost her father.**"

The instrumental of the music started to die down to make way for the vocals, sung by Mayu

_**Left in dark, eyes in shade  
**__**Bearings caught up in blur**_

Satoshi sighed as she looked over at Naomi, a little worrisome.

"**It's not a happy topic,**" he whispered, "**but Shinozaki's fortune telling made me think about something.**"

_**Our paths arced, we were afraid  
**__**Of parting and I'd rather…**_

Yoshiki looked over at Naomi, taking the chance to inspect her as she was distracted. Her ebullient visage was hiding what was deep inside — the feelings of pain. He knew, because he had seen the same thing in Miki's eyes. His sister helped him understand the concept of hiding the pain.

_**Throw myself to die… on a rotting ark…**_

Maybe he was a victim of the concept as well. Looking at the mirror, he looked to see the expression he held.

_**Free from my hell, park out in the sea…**_

Emotionless? Maybe. There wasn't any smile there. Maybe he wasn't hiding it, after all. Although, inside he did feel excited to come to a party like this, there was a possibility that he probably never did and that this was all just an act.

_**Rotting away, I shall stay be…**__**to drown in a beautiful lie.**_

A beautiful lie. Isn't that what Naomi is trying to put up? A beautiful lie over her face. Yoshiki started to look back at Naomi to see if that cover was still there.

_**Oh I miss you so  
**__**More than you can know  
**__**Tell me where, oh where, did you go?  
**__**Can't accept the truth  
**__**From my imbued sleuth  
**__**Doubting and feeling so uncouth**_

No, there wasn't a mask there. Tears were starting, alright. Even Seiko looked a little confused. Maybe these lyrics are reminiscent of her painful memories.

"**Hey, Yoshiki. Could you also keep an eye on her as well?**"

Yoshiki looked back at Satoshi, who seemed to noticed, in the midst of the music, what Naomi was truly feeling as well.

"**I haven't really given much consideration to it the past few years I've known her,**" stated Satoshi, with a tone that despised himself evident. "**But, I've decided that I'm not going to leave that alone any longer. I can't do this alone, but I think you're the only one I can trust on this.**"

Yoshiki looked back at Naomi once again, who appeared to be wiping her own tears.

_**An aching requiem  
**__**Coming out from them  
**__**Cried out by the wingless birds**_

"**Alright, Satoshi. I'll keep an eye on her.**" Yoshiki sighed as she looked at Mayu, singing with complete passion. "**I can kind of empathize with what she feels as well.**"

Well, thought Yoshiki, who else here has a father that is no longer in their lives?

"**This is probably my gift to you, Satoshi.**"

_**Echoes of their words  
**__**Trapped in the heart of Shangri La**_

* * *

I do not own the lyrics of _Euphoric Field, _but the lyrics of _Shangri-La _is a fan rewrite of the original song, which I don't own either.


End file.
